ESSAY 

ON 

CATHOLICISM 

LIBERALISM AND SOCIALISM 

CONSIDERED IN THEIR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES. 

BY 

DON JUAN DONOSO CORTES 

MARQUIS OF VALDEGAMAS. 

FROM THE ORIGINAL SPANISH. 

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF THE AUTHOR 

FROM THE ITALIAN OF G. E. DE CASTRO. 
TRANSLATED BY 

MADELEINE YINTON GODDARD. 



J. B. 



PHILADELPHIA! 

LIPPINCOTT & 
1 3 6 2. 



CO. 




Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by 
M. V. GODDARD, 

In the Clerk's Oflice of the District Court of the United States for th^ District of 
Columbia. 



BEATISSIMO PADRE, 



placcta alla santita sua di accettare i miei trayagli in tradurre 
cotesto libro; come un pegno sicuro di filiale 
affetto, e venerazione molto 
profonda. 

Della sua figlia in Cristo, 

MADDALENA VINTON GODDARD. 



HOLY FATHER, 

Deign to accept the labors of this translation, as an expression 
of filial affection and most profound 
veneration, from 

Your child in Christ, 

MADELEINE VINTON GODDARD, 



(iii) 



ALIA SANTITA DI N. S. PIO IX. 

Beatissimo Padre.' 

Nell a sneranza di pot ere avanzare gli interessi della nostra Santa 
rellgione, col diffondere i sentimenti religiosi di uomini illustri, 1)0 
credato dovere tra-durre in lingua nostra vernaeolare, le opere di 
Dono.so Cortes, le qu>ili furono alrravolta tradotte in lingua Francese 
con approvazione di V. Santita. Dogni-n pero di accettare quest o 
pegno di filiale afTetto, e di darle la sua santa benedizione. Pros- 
trata ai piedi della Santita Vostra li bacio reverent emente. 
Di V. Santita 

Divotissima figlia 

Maddalena Vinton G-oddard. 

Washington, 16 Febbraio, 1862. 



(iv) 




Testor ego Card. Prsefectus S. Congnis de 
propaganda fide superiorem benedictionem sig- 
natam fuisse manu SSmi. D. N. Pii Divina 
Providentia PP. IX. 

Al. Card. Barnabo. 



NOTICE. 



The dogmatical portion of this work has been examined by 
one of the most eminent theologians of Paris, belonging to the 
glorious school of the Benedictines of Solesmes. In the final 
revision of this work, the author has conformed to all his 
suggestions. 

( vi) 



CONTENTS. 



Sketch of tub Author.. = . 9- 

BOOK I. 

Chapter I. — How every great political question always involves 

a great theological question 17 

Chapter II. — Of society as regulated by Catholic theology 31 

Chapter III. — Society as regulated by the Catholic Church 41 

Chapter IV. — Catholicism is Love 58 

Chapter V. — That our Lord Jesus Christ has not triumphed 
over the world by the sanctity of his doctrines, or by 
prophecies and miracles, but in spite of all these things.. 63 
Chapter VI. — That our Lord Jesus Christ has triumphed over 

the world exclusively by supernatural means 69 

Chapter VII. — That the Catholic Church has triumphed over 
society, notwithstanding the same obstacles, and by the 
same supernatural means which rendered our Lord Jesus 
Christ victorious over the world &2 

BOOK II. 

Chapter I. — Of free will in man 93 

Chapter II. — Some objections respecting this dogma answered.. 99 

Chapter III. — Manicheism — Manicheism of Proudhon Ill 

Chapter IV. — How Catholicism explains the dogmas of Provi- 
dence and of Liberty, without adopting the theory of a 

rivalry between God and man 121 

( ) 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. — Secret analogies between the physical and moral 

perturbations, caused by human liberty 13! 

Chapter VI. — Of the angelical and human prevarication; great- . 

nesSj and enormity of sin 140 

Chapter VII. — How God causes good to result from the angel- 
ical and human prevarication 150 

Chapter VIII. — Solutions of the liberal school relative to these 

problems 161 

Chapter IX. — Socialist solutions 173 

Chapter X. — Continuation of the same subject — Conclusion of 

this book 187 

BOOK III. 

Chapter L — Transmission of sin — Dogma of imputation 207 

Chapter II. — How God brought good out of the transmission of 
sin, and of penalty — The purifying effect of pain freely 
accepted 218 

Chapter III. — The dogma of solidarity — Contradictions of the 

liberal school - 229 

Chaptlr IV. — Continuation of the same subject — Socialist con- 
tradictions 246 

Chapter V. — Continuation of the same subject 268 

Chapter VI. — Dogmas correlative with the dogma of solidarity 
— Bloody sacrifices — Theories of the rationalist schools 
respecting the death penalty 278 

Chapter VII. — Recapitulation — Inefficacy of all the solutions 

proposed — Necessity of a higher solution 293 

Chapter VIII. — Of the incarnation of the Son of God and the 

redemption of mankind 302 

CHAPTER IX. — Continuation of the same subject — Conclusion... 312 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



John Doxoso Cortes was born at Valdegamas, tlie sixth of 
May, 1809. At five years of age he entered a primary school, 
and at eleven he had finished the humanities ; at twelve he entered 
the University of Salamanca, in order to study law ; and at six- 
teen, like Leibnitz, he was prepared, had he not been too young, 
to receive his degree of Bachelor. In the mean time he devoted 
all his energies to the study of philosophy, history, and Belles- 
lettres, under that able and philosophical writer, Emanuel Quin- 
tana. From Quintana he received the current ideas of the day : 
an admiration of French authors, a contempt for those of Spain, 
in a word, that learned incredulity which prevailed among the last 
generation. 

For more than two centuries Jansenism and philosophism had 
corrupted the land of Pelagio and the Cid. D'Aranda and Pom- 
bal had dared to attack those very laws, proclaimed by the Coun- 
cil of Toledo, which had shown the magnificent influence of the 
Church in the maintenance of liberty and justice. Spain was no 
longer distinguished above others as the Catholic nation, the 
nation of profound and heartfelt convictions ; the traditional 
grandeur of her faith had taken the place of the reality; and 
faith, instead of being an absolute necessity, had degenerated 
into a mere habit. 

Donoso was affected by the spirit of the age in which he lived, 
and was in his earlier youth, like the greater number of those 

2 (ix) 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



around him, a philosophist. This is evident in his first works, 
which he always held in slight estimation on that account. He 
afterward courageously renounced many of his early opinions, 
others were changed, and he had need to be ashamed of none, for 
his faith became firm, and was boldly defended. When he was 
only nineteen years of age, Quintana, surprised at his great tal- 
ents, proposed to him to accept the professorship he was about 
to vacate. When any encomium was bestowed upon the youth, 
Quintana would always say, "Donoso is a diamond;" and he 
fully justified this eulogium. The result more than satisfied the 
general expectation, and it was admitted by all that he might 
accomplish still greater things in an enlarged sphere of action, 
Among those who always attended his lectures was a young girl. 
Her black eyes were continually fixed upon the animated coun- 
tenance of the orator ; and she regarded his every movement with 
the most intense admiration. Their hearts were touched, and 
they were married. Scarcely had Donoso enjoyed "the only true 
felicity of life," and it seemed as if his happiness was assured, 
when the two beings who had reconsecrated to him their lives, 
a beloved wife and infant daughter, were both laid in the tomb ; 
as if he was only permitted this affection in order to make an 
offering of it to God. 

He did not endure this first misfortune with resignation, and it 
was therefore terrible. Educated in an age which, if not alto- 
gether infidel, was at least so in ideas, he had imbibed that indif- 
ference, which is the greatest scourge of modern times. Although 
he was a philosophist from his earliest years, yet he was never 
irreligious; but divine love and a pious fervor were wanting; and 
religion is not an effect of human reason, but must come from the 
heart, which receives it through faith. Custom alone, not con- 
science, held him in union with the Church, and caused him to 
practice its duties, from which he was soon to experience such 
great blessings. Notwithstanding this religious apathy, he always 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



xi 



continued to fulfill his obligations as a Catholic ; nor had he any 
painful recollections to lament, nor need to blush on account of 
a single action, which could embitter the present or darken the 
future. 

"When Ferdinand VII., replaced upon the throne by a foreign 
army, wished, to the prejudice of the heir-apparent, Don Carlos, 
to favor his daughter Isabella, who, by the Salic law of Philip V., 
could not have succeeded him, Donoso caused a learned and elo- 
quent memorial to be presented to the king, in which he sus- 
tained the cause of the Infanta, and appealed to the love of a 
husband and father. The king wished to recompense him, and 
in 1832 conferred upon him a distinguished place in the ministry 
of "Grace and Justice." He was in this way, at twenty-three 
years of age, thrown into political life, which he was destined 
never to abandon. 

Ferdinand VII. died, but Donoso continued to support Isabella 
and her mother, Maria Christina. Spain loved her queens, and 
the memory of Isabella the Catholic, "the most illustrious being 
who had ever reigned over men," was affectionately cherished in 
popular traditions. Donoso considered that this sentiment was 
alone capable of saving his country, of delivering it from anarchy, 
of securing to it, not merely the order established in a beleaguered 
city, but the assured tranquillity of laws and of a just moderation. 
About this time he was elected a deputy to the Cortes, and after- 
ward Secretary of the Council of the Ministry, under the presi- 
dency of the famous Mendizabal, the chief of the party of reform. 
Donoso soon resigned this office, as he remained firm in his prin- 
ciples, which were not those of the ministry; so that he took no 
part whatever in the confiscation of the property of the Church, 
in the suppression of religious orders, or in any of those sacri- 
legious excesses which seemed to renew the times of Charles III. 

The tribune and the press still remained open to him, and some- 
times by means of the one, sometimes of the other, he continued. 



xii 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



as a citizen, courageously to persevere in the vindication of the 
opinions he had at first embraced. UAvvenire, a journal estab- 
lished by hirn, the Pilota, the Corriere Nazionale, and especially 
the Bivista di Madrid, of which he was one of the editors, attest 
his activity and the superiority of his talents. He had already 
published his "Essay on European Diplomacy, from the Revolu- 
tion of June to the Treaty of the Quadruple Alliance," a work 
which reflected great honor on his country, and in which the 
wide scope of his observation is equal to the truth of his applica- 
tions.* It was at that time that he delivered a course of lectures 
on international law, in the Atheneum at Madrid, a course so 
much the more useful, as there no longer existed a just public 
opinion, and no one attempted to strengthen or confirm these 
languishing sentiments. 

In the mean time, Espartero, emboldened by his decisive vic- 
tory over the Carlists, not only deprived Maria Christina of the 
regency, but also of the guardianship of her children. Donoso 
did not change with this mutation of fortune, but continued un- 
ceasingly to defend her, if not as widow and regent, at least as 
mother and queen. His efforts were unsuccessful, and he had 
reason to esteem himself fortunate that this civic courage was 
not punished by death, as was that of his friend, Montes de Oca. 
Maria Christina appointed him her secretary, and in this capacity 
he shared her exile, and made known to all Europe the ingrati- 
tude and cruelty of the Duke of Victoria. Candidly, I do not 
know, all things considered, whether these representations were 
just or not. In 1843, when the Marshal Narvaez established a 
conservative policy, relying upon the protection of France, (an 
aid always injurious to the independence of a people,) Donoso 
succeeded in returning to his country, and changed his position 
of secretary of the queen for that of secretary and director of the 



* The Throne and the Constitution, of May 17, 1S43. 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



xiii 



studies of Queen Isabella, whose majority had recently been de- 
clared. He was, moreover, proffered a place in the ministry, 
which he refused. He was a man whose convictions were too 
profound to permit him to alter them when placed in power ; and 
men who are incapable of change cannot long exercise an influ- 
ence over a mutable society. 

At this juncture, Louis Philippe made him Grand-officer of the 
Legion of Honor, and the States of Castile conferred upon him a 
title, by erecting his estate of Yaldegamas into a marquisate. He 
afterward entered upon the diplomatic career, having been nom- 
inated minister plenipotentiary of Spain near Berlin, where he 
was surprised by the revolution of February, or, to speak more 
correctly, by the great European catastrophe of 1848. 

Donoso was now on the verge of that uncertain epoch of human 
life, having reached the midway of the term of years usually 
granted by God to man, when the two periods of one's existence 
seem to be equally balanced, and it is difficult to say whether the 
culminating point is still to be reached or the descent has already 
commenced. Solemn hour, when the light of day begins to fade, 
but the setting sun still preserves its radiant splendor — hour, 
sacred to the past and the future, when the imagination is no 
longer enkindled, but the poetry of the heart remains. If our 
faith has, until then, been rather an act of the understanding than 
of the affections, and we meet with some disaster in such an hour, 
we find ourselves suddenly changed, a heavenly unction pene- 
trates our souls, and we approach the end of life with an increase 
of strength and fervor. 

At thirty, Chateaubriand wept and believed; in the death of 
two beloved objects he gained life, and from their graves ascended 
those pious desires, through which he acquired the gift of faith. 
Donoso loved at forty, and was converted. His brother died. 
He never alluded to this loss without weeping, and writing about 
him to an intimate friend, Mr. Rio, he said that he ought to ask 



xiv 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



pardon of God for having so entirely loved a human creature. 
At the bedside of his dying brother he studied religion, and he 
there found in it a virtue superior to all others, the virtue of piety. 
Thenceforward his life was one of faith, love, and expiation ; of 
devotion to the memory of his brother, and of prayer for the 
repose of his soul. Donoso wept and believed. 

In reply to those who attributed this conversion to his own 
merits before God, he said * I cannot remember to have merited 
anything ; but a certain feeling may have caused me cheerfully 
to return to God, for I can never behold a poor man at my door 
without thinking that I see in him a brother. He thus expresses 
himself, in a letter to Mr. Alberico de Blanche-Euffin : "As you 
see, neither my understanding nor my reason have had any part 
whatever in my conversion. Had I depended upon my limited 
talents or my miserable reason, I should have descended into the 
tomb without coming to the knowledge of the true faith. The 
mystery of my conversion (for in every conversion a mystery is 
always involved) is a mystery of love. I did not love God; he 
wished me to love him, and I loved him, and was converted 
through love." 

Notwithstanding his learning, Donoso, when converted, entered 
upon the path of Christian ignorance, and commenced to become 
sublime, by learning to be as a simple child, and, like the pilot of 
Homer, who at times watched the stars, and at times the sea, 
Donoso was not so entirely absorbed in celestial contemplations 
as to neglect mundane affairs : but, what is more meritorious, he 
considered this life as a necessary trial. We now behold him in 
full possession of truth and virtue, without being subjected to 
incessant contests, to harassing doubts, to cruel solicitude, to all 
of which had been added the difficulty of preserving the propen- 
sities of such a temperament as his in perfect equipoise. The works 
of St. Teresa and those of Father Lewis of Grenada, "the first 
mystic in the world," afforded nutriment to his own religious en- 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



XV 



thusiasm, for the activity of his exterior life did not indicate how 
great was his love of meditation. About this time he wrote from 
Dombenito : "I have never accomplished anything. I accomplish 
nothing, nor shall I ever, in all my life. I am a perfect example 
of those men who do nothing ; I am always reading. I propose to 
act. and then I never commence. Sometimes I imagine myself 
standing before God, and God demanding of me, What hast thou 
done? and I tremble with excessive fear. I then think that per- 
haps I was destined for a contemplative life ; but these are dan- 
gerous illusions presented to my mind. The truth is, that I am 
a man who has done nothing." The simplicity of his faith 
equaled that of the most humble countryman. Having learned 
that a relic of our Lord was preserved in the Church of Argen- 
teuil, he wished to make a pilgrimage thither, in order to obtain 
of divine mercy the cure of one of his brothers, who was sick. 
There is such a fullness of affection in those souls who are inspired 
by divine love, that they desire every act and thought should cor- 
respond to this love, and they make of life a continual sacrifice ; 
and yet the world considers them as objects of insult, and takes 
pleasure in calling them guelfi da campanile ; so that, in conse- 
quence of a contempt for their example, truth is lost and the 
practice of virtue discontinued. 

I will only say a few words respecting the political opinions of 
Donoso. "The Christian monarchy, which existed before the ab- 
solute monarchy caused the suppression of deliberative assem- 
blies, placed a real and not a revolutionary limit to the royal will ;" 
and then the government was the only social form that was deemed 
necessary, the only expression of that authority which proceeded 
from God. In this appeal to the middle ages, to this high Cath- 
olic arbitrament, to the feudal and aristocratic power, all the illus- 
trious men of the theological school concur with Cortes, from 
De Maistre to Balmes, from Bonald to Canuta. It is a general 
complaint, the want of an age in which faith- existed and was 



xvi 



NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 



potent for good, "and in which the rewards and punishments of 
a future life governed society." But what is the true Christian 
monarchy, the true Christian republic ? Perhaps it is the mon- 
archy of Gregory YIL, that greatest representative of liberalism ! 
But Donoso Cortes does not seem to think so, and in this matter 
many of the theological school to which he belongs disagree with 
him, and justly so. 

Donoso had the consolation in his dying moments to reflect 
that " he had never failed to defend society, so cruelly assailed ; 
and that he had never injured any one."* 



* His words in his Discourse of January 4, 1849. 



ESSAY 



ON 

CATHOLICISM, LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 
BOOK I. 

CHAPTER I. 

How every great political question always involves a great 
theological question. 

Mr. Proudhox, in his Confessions of a Revolutionist, 
has written these remarkable words: 66 It is surprising 
to observe how constantly we find all our political ques- 
tions complicated with theological questions." There is 
nothing in this to cause surprise, except it be the sur- 
prise of Mr. Proudhon. Theology being the science of 
God, is the ocean which contains and embraces all the 
sciences, as God is the ocean in which all things are 
contained. All things existed, both prior to and after 
their creation, in the divine mind; because as God made 
them out of nothing, so did he form them according to 
a model which existed in himself from eternity. All 
things are in God in the profound manner in which 
effects are in their causes, consequences in their princi- 
ples, reflections in light, and forms in their eternal 
exemplars. In Him are united the vastness of the sea, 
the glory of the fields, the harmony of the spheres, the 

3 (17) 



18 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



grandeur of the universe, the splendor of the stars, and 
the magnificence of the heavens. In Him are the meas- 
ure, weight, and number of all things, and all things 
proceed from Him with number, weight, and measure. 
In Him are the inviolable and sacred laws of being, and 
every being has its particular law. All that lives, finds 
in Him the laws of life ; all that vegetates, the laws of 
vegetation ; all that moves, the laws of motion ; all 
that has feeling, the law of sensation; all that has un- 
derstanding, the law of intelligence; and all that bas 
liberty, the law of freedom. It may in this sense be 
affirmed, without falling into Pantheism, that all things 
are in God, and God is in all things. This will serve to 
explain how in proportion as faith is impaired in this 
world, truth is weakened, and how the society that turns 
its back upon God, will find its horizon quickly envel- 
oped in frightful obscurity. For this reason religion 
has been considered by all men, and in all ages, as the 
indestructible foundation of human society. Omnis hu- 
manee societatis fundamentum convellit qui reliyionem 
convellit, says Plato in book 10 of his laws. According 
to Xenophon, (on Socrates.) "the most pious cities and 
nations have always been the most durable, and the 
wisest. " Plutarch affirms (contra Colotes) u that it is 
easier to build a city in the air than to establish society 
without a belief in the gods.'' Rousseau, in his Social 
Contract, book iv., ch. viii., observes, "that a State 
was never established without religion as a foundation." 
Voltaire says, in his Treatise on Toleration, ch. xx., 
"that religion is, on all accounts, necessary wherever 
society exists." All the legislation of the ancients 
rests upon a fear of the gods. Polybius declares that 
this holy fear is always more requisite in a free people 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



19 



than in others. That Rome might be the eternal city, 
Numa made it the holy city. Among the nations of 
antiquity the Roman was the greatest, precisely because 
it was the most religious. Cesar having one day uttered 
certain words, in open Senate, against the existence of 
the gods, Gato and Cicero arose from their seats and 
accused the irreverent youth of having spoken words 
fatal to the Republic. It is related of Fabricius, a Ro- 
man captain, that having heard the philosopher Cineas 
ridicule the Divinity in presence of Pyrrhus, he pro- 
nounced these memorable words: "May it please the 
gods, that our enemies follow this doctrine when they 
make war against the Republic. " 

The decline of faith that produces the decline of 
truth does not necessarily cripple, but certainly misleads 
the human mind. God, who is both compassionate and 
just, denies truth to guilty souls, but does not deprive 
them of life. He condemns them to error, but not to 
death. As an evidence of this, every one has witnessed 
those periods of prodigious incredulity and of highest 
culture that have shone in history with a phosphores- 
cent light, leaving more of a burning than a luminous 
track behind them. If we carefully contemplate these 
ages, we shall see that their splendor is only the inflamed 
glare of the lightning's flash. It is evident that their 
brightness is the sudden explosion of their obscure but 
combustible materials, rather than the calm light pro- 
ceeding from purest regions, and serenely spread over 
heaven's vault by the divine pencil of the sovereign 
painter. 

What is here said of ages may also be said of men. 
The absence or the possession of faith, the denial of God 
or the abandonment of truth, neither gives them under- 



20 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



standing nor deprives them of it. That of the unbeliever 
may be of the highest order, and that of the believer 
very limited; but the greatness of the first is that of an 
abyss, while the second has the holiness of a tabernacle. 
In the first dwells error, in the second truth. In the 
abyss with error is deaths in the tabernacle with truth 
is life. Consequently there can be no hope whatever 
for those communities that renounce the austere worship 
of truth for the idolatry of the intellect. Sophisms 
produce revolutions, and sophists are succeeded by 
hangmen. 

He possesses political truth who understands the 
laws to which governments are amenable; and he pos- 
sesses social truth who comprehends the laws to which 
human societies are answerable. He who knows God, 
knows these laws; and he knows God who listens to 
what He affirms of Himself, and believes the same. The- 
ology is the science which has for its object these affirm- 
ations. Whence it follows that every affirmation re- 
specting society or government, supposes an affirmation 
relative to God; or, what is the same thing, that every 
political or social truth necessarily resolves itself into a 
theological truth. 

If everything is intelligible in God and through God, 
and theology is the science of God, in whom and by 
whom everything is elucidated, theology is the universal 
science. Such being the case, there is nothing not 
comprised in this science, which has no plural; because 
totality, which constitutes it, has it not. Political and 
social sciences have no existence except as arbitrary 
classifications of the human mind. Man in his feeble- 
ness classifies that which in God is characterized by the 
most simple unity. Thus, he distinguishes political from 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



21 



social and religious affirmations ; while in God there is 
but one affirmation, indivisible and supreme. He who 
speaks explicitly of what thing soever, and is ignorant 
that he implicitly speaks of God; and who does not 
know when he discusses explicitly any science whatever, 
that he implicitly illustrates theology, has received from 
God simply the necessary amount of intelligence to 
constitute him a man. Theology, then, considered in 
its highest acceptation, is the perpetual object of all the 
sciences, even as God is the perpetual object of human 
speculations. 

Every word that a man utters is a recognition of the 
Deity, even that which curses or denies God. He who 
rebels against God, and frantically exclaims, " I abhor 
thee; thou art not!" illustrates a complete system of 
theology,*as he does who raises to Him a contrite heart, 
and says, "Lord, have mercy on thy servant, who adores 
thee." The first blasphemes Him to His face, the sec- 
ond prays at His feet, yet both acknowledge Him, each 
in his own way; for both "pronounce His incommunicable 
name. 

In the manner of pronouncing this name rests the 
solution of the most profound enigmas; the vocation of 
races, the providential mission of nations, the great vicis- 
situdes of history, the rise and fall of the most famous 
empires, their wars and their conquests, the different 
character of peoples, the physiognomy of nations, and 
their various fortunes. Where God is considered as the 
all-pervading essence, man, abandoned to silent contem- 
plation, shuts out the senses and lives as it were in a 
dream, fanned by fragrant and enervating breezes. The 
adorer of the infinite substance is condemned to a per- 
petual slavery and unlimited indolence. For him the 

3* 



22 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



desert has something divine which he finds not in the 
city, because it is more silent, more solitary, and more 
vast; and yet he will not adore it as his God, because 
the desert is not infinite. The ocean would become his 
divinity, because it absorbs all things, if it were not for 
its strange commotions and noise. The sun which illu- 
minates the universe would be worthy of his worship, if 
the eye of man did not embrace its resplendent disk. 
The firmament would be his god, if it were not dotted by 
the sparkling luminaries; or night would be his god but 
for its mysterious sounds. His god is all these things 
united — immensity, obscurity, immobility, silence. There 
we behold suddenly arise, through the hidden impulsion 
of a powerful growth, colossal and barbarous empires, 
that as suddenly fall with a crash, overwhelmed by the 
weight of other empires more gigantic, and leaving no 
trace either of their rise or fall. Their armies are 
undisciplined and the people unintelligent. The army 
is chiefly characterized by the number of men that com- 
pose it. There w r ar has less for its aim to prove the 
heroism of a nation than its populousness, and even vic- 
tory would not establish a legal title, except that victory 
supposes strength, and strength is considered an attri- 
bute of the divinity. 

Thus we see that the Hindoo theology and history 
are identical. Turning our eyes westward we behold, 
at the very portals, a region which ushers in a new 
world in politics, morals, and theology. The Oriental 
deity of infinitude is here decomposed, and loses its 
formidable and austere characteristics: its unity is 
multitude. There the deity was motionless ; here mul- 
titude displays an unceasing activity. There silence 
reigned; here everything is sound, cadence, and har- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



23 



monj. The god of the East extended through all time 
and filled all space; here the family of divinities has its 
genealogical tree, and is confined to the summit of a 
mountain. The deity of the East dwells in an eternal 
peace; while here, in the seat of the gods, all is war, 
tumult, and confusion. 

The political unity of these nations undergoes the 
same vicissitudes as the religious unity: here each city 
forms an empire; while there all the communities com- 
bined to form one. Among the Orientals we find one 
God and one King ; while in the West we find a repub- 
lic of Deities and a republic of Cities. In this multi- 
tude of divinities and cities all is disorder and confusion. 
To men is imputed something of the heroic and heavenly, 
and to the gods something of the human and terrestrial. 
The gods accord to men the intelligence of great things, 
and the perception of the beautiful, and receive in turn 
from them their discords and their vices. They have 
illustrious and virtuous men, and incestuous and adul- 
terous gods. This people, impressionable and ardent, 
is distinguished for its poets and artists, and is an object 
of wonder to the world. Life has no charms for it, ex- 
cept as it reflects the light of glory; nor is death terri- 
ble, except in the oblivion that follows it. Utterly 
sensual, it values in life only its pleasures ; and it 
considers death as happy, when it comes crowned with 
flowers. Familiarity and affinity with its gods, make 
it vain, capricious, and petulant. Without a due re- 
spect for the gods, it lacks dignity in its designs, 
fixedness of purpose, and stability of resolve. It re- 
gards the Oriental World as a region overspread with 
darkness, and peopled with statues; while the Orientals, 
contemplating the ephemeral life, premature death, and 



24 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



brief glory of this people, consider it as a nation of 
pigmies. For the one, greatness consists in duration ; 
for the other, it is action. Thus Grecian theology, 
Grecian history, and Grecian character are one and 
the same. 

This phenomenon is conspicuous in the history of the 
Roman people. Their principal gods, of Etruscan ori- 
gin, were Grecian in their quality of deities, and Ori- 
ental in so far as Etruscan. They were numerous 
as the gods of Greece, and at the same time austere 
and somber as the gods of the East. Rome combines 
the East and the West, both in politics and in religion. 
It is a city like that of Theseus, and an empire like that 
of Cyrus. Rome is a type of Janus, being two-faced, 
and each visage bearing a different aspect. One sym- 
bolizes Oriental duration, and the other Grecian ac- 
tivity; possessing a mobility so great as to reach the 
confines of the earth, and so prolonged in duration that 
the world proclaims it eternal. Chosen by the divine 
counsel to prepare the way for Him who was to come, 
its providential mission was to assimilate to itself all 
theologies, and to rule over all nations. In obedience 
to a mysterious influence, all the gods find a place in 
the Roman Capitol, and the awed nations, overcome 
with terror, lie humbled and prostrate under the Roman 
yoke. All the cities are successively despoiled of their 
gods, and all the gods are one after the other despoiled 
of their temples and cities. This vast empire holds as 
its own the Oriental legitimacy — multitude and strength ; 
and the legitimacy of the West — intelligence and disci- 
pline. For this reason it subjects all, and none resist 
it, or complain of its crushing force. In the same way 
that its theology differs from, and yet has something in 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



25 



common with, all theologies, so has Rome also much that 
is peculiar to herself, and much in common with all the 
cities conquered by her arms, or obscured by her glory. 
She has the Spartan severity, the Attic culture, the pomp 
of Memphis, and the grandeur of Babylon and Nineveh. 
In order to make a succinct proposition, we may indi- 
cate the Orient as the thesis, the West as the antithesis, 
and Rome as the synthesis. The Roman Empire repre- 
sents the absorption of the Oriental thesis and the West- 
ern antithesis in the Roman synthesis. Let us, then, 
resolve this potent synthesis into its constituent ele- 
ments, and it will be seen that there can be no synthesis 
in the political and social order, without a corresponding 
condition in the religious order. Both among the Ori- 
ental nations, the republics of Greece, and in the Roman 
Empire, theological systems serve to elucidate the polit- 
ical. Theology is the light of history. 

The Roman Capitol could not be despoiled of its mag- 
nificence, except through the destruction of the means 
which had enabled it to attain its culminating point. 
No one could establish his power in Rome without the 
permission of the gods, and no one could obtain posses- 
sion of the Capitol without first displacing the supreme 
god, Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The ancients, who 
had a confused idea of the vital power inherent in all 
religious systems, believed that no city could be con- 
quered so long as it was not abandoned by the national 
deities. Consequently, in all the wars of city against 
city, nation against nation, and race against race, a spir- 
itual and religious controversy accompanied the material 
and political struggle. The besieged, while making an 
armed resistance, implored their gods not to forsake 
them. The besiegers, in their turn, conjured the gods, 



26 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



with mysterious imprecations, to desert the city. Woe 
to that city wherein resounds the fearful cry, "The 
gods have fled — the gods have abandoned us!" The 
people of Israel were invincible so long as Moses held 
uplifted hands toward God, and could no longer conquer 
when these fell powerless. Moses is a type of the human 
race, proclaiming through all ages, though under various 
and diverse forms, the omnipotence of God and man's 
dependence, the power of religion, and the efficacy of 
prayer. 

Rome fell because her gods succumbed; her empire 
was destroyed because her theology became extinct; 
and history thus plainly exhibits the great principle 
that lies in the deepest recesses of the humaji conscience. 
Rome had given to the world her Cesars and her gods. 
Jupiter and Cesar Augustus divided between them the 
imperial authority over things human and divine. Amid 
the rise and fall of mighty empires, never since the crea- 
tion had a power existed under the sun of so august a 
majesty, and so surprising a grandeur. All nations, 
even the most rude and unpolished, had submitted to 
her yoke. The world had laid down its arms, and held 
still. 

About this time was born in the land of prodigies, in 
an humble stable, and of mean parentage, a most won- 
derful child. It was said of Him, that at the time of 
his advent among men, a new star shone forth in the 
heavens; that, scarcely born, he was worshiped by shep- 
herds and kings; that heavenly spirits had spoken to 
men, and appeared in the sky; that his mysterious and 
incommunicable name had been predicted from the be- 
ginning of the world ; that the prophets had foretold his 
reign ; and that even the sibyls had chanted his vie- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



27 



tories. These extraordinary rumors having reached the 
ears of the servants of Cesar, inspired them with vague 
apprehensions and terror. This vague uneasiness and 
fear soon passed, however, when they saw the days and 
nights succeed each other as always, in their perpetual 
rotations, and that the sun continued as before to illu- 
mine the horizon of Rome. Then the imperial gov- 
ernors said to each other, Cesar is immortal, and the 
reports which have reached us were spread by timid 
and idle people. The most efficacious remedy against 
the prejudices of the vulgar is contempt and oblivion. 

Thus passed away thirty years. But, at the expi- 
ration of thirty years, silly and discontented people 
again sought, in new and still more surprising rumors, 
a fresh aliment for their stupidity. They said that the 
child had become a man, and, while receiving upon his 
head the waters of Jordan, the heavens opened, and a 
spirit, in shape like a dove, descended upon him, and 
a voice came from heaven, saying, " This is my be- 
loved Son." In the mean time, he who had baptized 
him, a grave and austere man, an inhabitant of the 
desert, and a man who avoided society, exhorted the 
people, continually saying, " Repent ye;" and, point- 
ing to the child made man, gave this testimony of him : 
"This is the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins 
of the world." 

There was no doubt whatever among the strong 
minded of the age that all this was simply a farce, 
badly enacted, and performed by players of low repute. 
The Jewish people had always been prone to sorceries 
and superstitions. In past ages, and when captives of 
Babylon, they turned their eyes, dimmed with weeping, 
toward their abandoned temple and lost country; a great 



28 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



conqueror, foretold by their prophets, had redeemed 
them from captivity, and had restored to them both 
their country and their temple. It was then very nat- 
ural that this people should expect a new redemption 
and a new redeemer, who would forever release them 
from the yoke of Rome. 

If this had been all, unp>rejudiced and intelligent 
people, of whatever condition in life, would have disre- 
garded these rumors, as they had done those of the 
past, depending upon time, that great minister of human 
reason, to dissipate them. But some inevitable fate dis- 
posed otherwise of matters, because it came to pass that 
Jesus (this was the name of the person of whom such 
great wonders were related) commenced to teach a new 
doctrine, and to perform marvelous works. His bold- 
ness or madness went so far as to call those who were 
hypocritical and arrogant by their true names, and to 
designate as whitened sepulchers those who were so. 
He counseled the poor to be patient, and then scoffing 
at them, proclaimed them blessed. In order to punish 
the rich, who despised him, he admonished them to "be 
merciful." He condemned fornication and adultery, yet 
he sat at table with adulterers and fornicators. Filled 
with jealousy, he affected contempt for the doctors and 
wise men; and so mean were his sentiments that he 
found pleasure in conversing with common and vulgar 
people. 

His arrogance was so extreme that he styled himself 
the Lord of Earth, Sea, and Heaven; and he was so 
consummate in the arts of hypocrisy that he washed 
the feet of some poor fishermen. In spite of his studied 
austerity of manner, he announced that his doctrine was 
love, condemned the industry of Martha, and blessed 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



29 



the idleness of Mary. He held secret relations with 
infernal spirits, and bartered his soul for the power of 
working miracles. He was followed by a crowd who 
adored him. 

Notwithstanding their good-will, it is plain that the 
guardians of holy things and of the imperial preroga- 
tives could no longer remain passive ; as they were offi- 
cially responsible for the preservation of the majesty 
of religion and the peace of the empire. That which 
chiefly disturbed them was the information they received 
that a great number of people were ready to proclaim 
him king of the Jews ; and, moreover, that he had an- 
nounced himself as the Son of God, and intended to 
dissuade the people from the payment of the tribute. 

He who had said such things and performed such works 
could not but die by the hands of the people. It was 
only necessary to explain and substantiate the charges 
against him. When he was questioned concerning the 
tributes, he made the celebrated answer which discon- 
certed the inquisitor: " Render unto Cesar the things 
which are Cesar's, and unto God the things which are 
God's;" which was equivalent to saying: "I leave unto 
you Cesar, and I take away from you Jupiter." When 
questioned by Pilate and the high priest, he repeated 
the assertion that he was the Son of God, and that his 
reign was not of this world. Then Caiphas said : "This 
man is guilty, and must die;" but Pilate, on the con- 
trary, said: "Liberate this man, for he is innocent." 

Caiphas viewed the matter in its religious aspect as 
high priest; Pilate considered the subject in its political 
bearings as a laic. Pilate could not understand the 
connection between the State and religion, between 
Cesar and Jupiter, between politics and theology. 

4 



30 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM, 



Caiphas, however, judged that the introduction of a 
new religion would overturn the government: that a 
new God would dethrone Cesar; and that the theologi- 
cal question involved the political. The multitude in- 
stinctively thought as Caiphas did, and with rude clamors 
accused Pilate of being an enemy of Tiberius. Such 
was then the condition of affairs. 

Pilate, the immortal type of corrupt judges, in his 
timidity sacrificed Jesus, and delivered him up to the 
furious populace, thinking to absolve his conscience by 
the washing his hands of it. The Son of God was cru- 
cified, reviled, and derided. Then he was assailed by 
the rich and the poor, by the hypocritical and the proud, 
by the priests and the learned, by women of bad repute 
and men of evil conscience, the adulterers and fornica- 
tors. Jesus expired on the cross while praying for his 
enemies and commending his soul to his Father. 

For a time tranquillity was restored, but soon after- 
ward events occurred never before witnessed by men: 
the abomination of desolation in the temple, the mothers 
of Sion cursing their fecundity, the sepulchers burst 
asunder, Jerusalem depopulated, its walls leveled to the 
ground, its inhabitants dispersed throughout the earth, 
and the world in arms; the eagles of Rome piercing 
the air with their cries of terror, Rome despoiled of 
her Cesars and her gods, the cities laid waste and the 
deserts peopled ; men clothed in skins, and who could 
not read, governing the nations, and multitudes obeying 
that voice from Jordan which had said, "Repent ye;" 
and that other voice which cried out, 44 Whosoever will 
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
cross and follow me;" and kings adoring the cross, 
which was everywhere erected. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



31 



What was the cause of so great changes and revolu- 
tions? Why so vast a desolation, and so universal a 
cataclysm? What did it mean? What had happened? 
Nothing, except that some theologians went about pro- 
claiming a new theology throughout the world. 



CHAPTER II. 

Of society as regulated by Catholic theology. 

This new theology is called Catholicism. Catholi- 
cism is a complete system of civilization. It is so com- 
plete that in its immensity it includes everything — the 
science of God, of angels, of the universe, and of men. 
The unbeliever is astonished at the incredible extrav- 
agance of its claims, and the believer at its surprising 
grandeur. If any one look upon it derisively, men are 
even more surprised at this stupid indifference than at 
its colossal grandeur and wonderful extravagance, and 
they exclaim, "Let the insensate pass by." 

During nineteen centuries the world has frequented 
the schools of Catholic theologians and doctors; and 
yet, notwithstanding all this diligent investigation, no 
one has explored the depths of Catholic science. In 
this school is taught how and when events and nations 
have had their rise and fall, and by it are disclosed the 
wonderful secrets, always concealed from the specula- 
tions of heathen philosophers and the comprehension 
of their learned men. There stand revealed the final 
causes of all things, the adjustment of human events, 



32 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



the nature of bodies and that of spirits, by what ways 
men proceed, the limit of their progression, from whence 
they came, the mystery of their peregrination, the course 
of their journey, the enigma of their sorrows, the secret 
of life, and the arcana of death. Children who are 
nourished at this fruitful source know more to-day than 
did Aristotle and Plato, the two luminaries of Athens. 
And yet the doctors who teach such wonderful things, and 
who attain heights so great, have received humility as 
an inheritance. It has been alone permitted to Cathol- 
icism to offer to the world the spectacle, before then 
reserved for the angels, of science deposed by humility 
in the presence of God. 

This theology is called Catholic because it is univer- 
sal; and it is so in every sense, under every aspect, and 
in all respects. It is universal, because it includes the 
substance of all truth. It is so because in its very 
nature it is destined to extend everywhere, and to last 
through all time. It is universal in its God and in its 
dogmas. 

God was unity in India, dualism in Persia, diversity 
in Greece, multitude at Rome. The living God is one 
in substance as the Indian; multiple in person as the 
Persian; diverse in his attributes as the Grecian; and 
through the great number of spirits (gods) that serve 
him, he is multitudinous as were the Roman deities. 
He is the universal cause, the infinite and impalpable 
essence, the eternal repose and yet the author of all 
movements, the supreme intelligence, the sovereign will. 
He contains all things, and nothing contains him. It is 
he who formed all things out of nothing, who maintains 
each thing in its entity, and who governs things angeli- 
cal, human, and infernal. He is most merciful, most 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



33 



just, most loving, most strong, most powerful, most 
pure, most prudent, most beautiful, most wise. The 
East knows his voice, the West obeys him, the South 
venerates him, the North acknowledges him. His word 
fills creation, the stars stand as his sentinels, the sera- 
phim reflect his glory from their glowing wings, the 
heavens are his throne, and he holds suspended in his 
hand the fullness of the earth. When, in the fulfillment 
of prophecy, the Catholic God appeared, it was the sig- 
nal for the downfall of all the idols made by men. Nor 
could it have been otherwise, inasmuch as all these 
human theologies were only mutilated fragments of the 
Catholic theology; and the gods of various nations were 
merely the deification of some of the essential properties 
of the true God, the God of the Bible. 

Catholicism controls the body, the senses, and the 
soul of man. Its dogmatic theology teaches men what 
they must believe; its ethics instruct them as to the 
duties of life, while its mystic theologians, soaring still 
higher, teach men to rise on the wings of prayer, to 
ascend the effulgent steps of the ladder of Jacob, on 
which God descends to the earth and men ascend to 
heaven, until the heavens and the earth, men and angels, 
alike glow in the fire of divine love. 

Through Catholicism man recognized the law of order, 
and through man this order entered into society. The 
redemption regained for the moral world the laws which 
it had lost through prevarication and sin. Catholic 
dogma became the criterion for the sciences, Catholic 
ethics the guide for human actions, and Catholic charity 
the standard for the affections. Human conscience, 
freed from the corrosive action of error and sin, was 
thus enlightened in its interior, as in its exterior dark- 

i 



34 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



ness. and, guided bv the light of these three criterions, 
was restored to the felicity of lost innocence. 

Order was thus transmitted from the religious into 
the moral world, and passed from the moral into the 
political irarld. The Catholic God, the creator and pre- 
server of the universe, subjects all things to the laws of 
his Providence, and governs them by his vicars. St. 
Paul says in his Epistle to the Romans, chap, xiii.: "Non 
est potestas nisi a Deo;' and Solomon has written in 
the Book of Proverbs, chap. viii. v. 15: "Per vie reges 
regnant, et lecjum conditores justa deeemunt." The 
authority exercised by his vicars is holy, chiefly on ac- 
count of what it possesses extrinsic to them ; that is to 
say, it is divine. The idea of authority is of Catholic 
origin. The rulers over the nations of antiquity placed 
their right of supremacy on human foundations; they 
governed for themselves, and they governed by force. 
The Catholic rulers did not claim to exercise authority 
through any inherent right, but onlv as the delegated 
agents of God, and as the servants of the people. When 
man became the child of God, then he ceased to be the 
slave of man. There is nothing more solemn, more im- 
pressive, and at the same time more respectable, than 
the words which the Church addressed to Christian 
princes at their consecration: "Receive this scepter as 
an emblem of the sacred power confided to you in order 
that you may protect the weak, sustain the wavering, 
correct the vicious, and conduct the good in the way of 
salvation. Receive this scepter as the rule of divine 
justice, which upholds the good and punishes the wicked ; 
learn by it to love justice, and to abhor iniquity." These 
words are in perfect consonance with the idea of legiti- 
mate authority as revealed to the world by our Lord 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



35 



Jesus Christ : "Scitis quia hi, qui videntur principari 
gentibus, dominantur eis ; et principes eorum potesta- 
tem habent ipsorum. Non ita est autem in vobis, sed qui- 
cumque voluerit fieri major, erit vester minister: et qui- 
cumque voluerit in vobis primus esse, erit omnium 
servus. Nam et Filius hominis non venit ut ministrare- 
tur ei, sed ut ministraret, et daret animamsuam redemp- 
tionem pro multis"* 

People and rulers alike gained by this happy revolu- 
tion. The latter, because their former power only ex- 
tended over the bodies of men, and they had reigned by 
the right of force; while now they exercised a lawful 
authority over both bodies and minds. The former 
gained, because obedience to God is preferable to obe- 
dience to man, and because a willing compliance is bet- 
ter than an imposed consent; and this proves that the 
results of this revolution were more favorable for the 
people than for their rulers ; for while princes, by the 
very act of governing in the name of God, represented 
humanity as impotent to constitute a legitimate author- 
ity of itself, and in its own name, the people, who only 
submitted to their princes in obedience to the divine 
command, became the representatives of the highest 
and the most glorious of human prerogatives, that of 
submitting to no yoke except the divine authority. 
This serves to explain, on the one hand, the singular 
modesty for which those happy princes are eminent in 
history, whom men call great, and the Church holy; 
and, on the other hand, the singular dignity and eleva- 
tion for which truly Catholic nations are conspicuous. 
A voice of peace, consolation, and mercy had been 



* Mark, x. 42-45. 



36 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



heard throughout the world, and had penetrated deeply 
into the human conscience; and this voice taught the 
nations, that those of low and mean condition are so 
placed, in order to be cared for on account of their 
necessities, and that the rich and great are born to 
serve others, because they are great and rich. Cathol- 
icism, in deifying authority, sanctified obedience; and, 
in deifying the one and sanctifying the other, con- 
demned pride in its most terrible manifestations, the 
spirit of domination and that of rebellion. Two things 
are entirely impossible in a truly Catholic society, des- 
potism and revolutions. Rousseau, who was sometimes 
capable of sudden and great inspirations, has written 
these remarkable words: i4 The rulers of modern times 
are undoubtedly indebted to Christianity both for the 
stability of their authority and the less frequent re- 
currence of revolutions. Nor has its influence here 
ceased, for, acting upon the rulers themselves, it has 
made them more humane. In order to be convinced of 
this, one has only to compare them with the rulers of 
ancient times. "* And Montesquieu has said: "AVe are 
undoubtedly indebted to Christianity for the public law 
recognized in peace and respected by nations during 
time of war, and for whose benefits we can never be 
sufficiently grateful, "f 

The same God, who is the author and governor of 
civil society, has also created and regulated domestic 
society. Placed in the most hidden, the highest, the 
purest, and the brightest of the celestial regions, is a 
tabernacle, which is inaccessible even to the choirs of 



* Eniile, vol. i. ch. iv. 

f Spirit of Laws, b. iii. ch. iii. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



37 



the angels. In this unapproachable tabernacle is per- 
petually enacted the prodigy of prodigies, and the mys- 
tery of mysteries. There dwells the Catholic God, one 
and triune: one in essence, three in person. The Son 
is coeternal with and engendered by the Father; and 
the Holy Ghost is coeternal with and proceeds from the 
Father and the Son ; and the Holy Ghost is God, and 
the Son is God, and the Father is God ; and God has 
no plural, because there is only one God, three in per- 
son and one in substance. The Holy Ghost is God even 
as the Father is God, but He is not the Father : He is 
God even as the Son is God, but He is not the Son. 
The Son is God even as the Holy Ghost is God, but He 
is not the Holy Ghost ; He is God even as the Father is 
God, but He is not the Father. The Father is God 
even as the Son is God, but He is not the Son ; He is 
God even as the Holy Ghost is God, but He is not the 
Holy Ghost. The Father is omnipotence ; the Son is 
wisdom : the Holy Ghost is love ; and the Father, and 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost are infinite love, supreme 
power, and perfect wisdom. There unity, expanding 
perpetually, begets variety, and variety in self- conden- 
sation is perpetually resolved into unity, God is thesis, 
antithesis, and synthesis; and He is the supreme thesis, 
the perfect antithesis, the infinite synthesis. Because 
He is one, He is God; because He is God, He is per- 
fect ; because He is perfect, He is most fruitful ; be- 
cause He is most fruitful, He is diversity; because He is 
diversity, He is the family. In his essence exist, in 
an inexpressible and incomprehensible manner, the laws 
of creation, and the exemplars of all things. Every- 
thing has been made in his image, and, therefore, crea- 
tion is one and many. He is the universal word, which 



38 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM, 



implies unity and variety combined in one. Man was 
made by God. and in his image, and not only in his 
image, but also in his likeness ; and for this reason man 
is one in essence, and represents a sort of trinity of per- 
sons. Eve proceeds from Adam, Abel is begotten by 
Adam and Eve, and Adam, Abel, and Eve are the same 
thing: thev are man, they are human nature. Adam 
is man the father, Eve is man the woman, Abel is man 
the son. Eve is man as Adam, but she is not the father : 
she is man as Abel, but she is not the son. Adam is 
man as Abel without being the son, and as Eve without 
being the woman. Abel is man as Eve without being 
the woman, and as Adam without being the father. 

All these names are divine, even as the functions 
which they signify are divine. The idea of paternity, 
the foundation of the family, could not have had its 
origin in the human mind. Xo fundamental differences 
exist, in the relation between father and son, of suffi- 
cient importance to constitute in themselves a right. 
Priority is simply a fact, and nothing more ; and the 
same thing may be said of power; and both united can- 
not of themselves make the right of paternity, although 
they may originate another fact, that of servitude. This 
fact supposed, the proper name of father is master, as 
that of son is slave. This truth, which reason suggests 
to us, is confirmed by history. Among those nations 
who have forgotten the great biblical traditions, the title 
of paternity has ever been but the synonym for domestic 
tj ranny. If there could have existed a nation forgetful, 
on the one hand, of those great traditions, and on the 
other neglecting the worship of material power, among 
this people the fathers and sons would have been, and 
would have called themselves, brothers. Paternity comes 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



39 



from God, and can alone exist through hiro, either in 
name or in reality. Had God permitted an entire ob- 
livion of all paradisiacal traditions, mankind would have 
lost even the name of this institution. 

The family relation is divine in its institution and in 
its nature, and has everywhere shared the vicissitudes 
of Catholic civilization; and it is very certain that the 
purity or the corruption of the first is invariably an 
infallible symptom of a corresponding condition of the 
second; as the history of the various vicissitudes and 
changes of the latter becomes equally the history of 
similar alternations in the former. 

In Catholic ages, the family relation tends to the high- 
est degree of excellence ; its human element is spiritual- 
ized, and the cloister takes the place of the domestic 
circle. While in the domestic life children reverently 
submit to their father and mother, the inmates of clois- 
ters, with a still greater reverence and submission, bathe 
with their tears the sacred feet of a better Father, and 
the holy habit of a more tender mother. When Catho- 
lic civilization is no longer in the ascendant and begins 
to decline, the family relation immediately becomes im- 
paired, its constitution vitiated, its elements disunited, 
and all its ties enfeebled. The father and mother whom 
God had united in the bonds of affection, substitute for 
this sacred tie a severe formality; while the children 
lose that filial reverence enjoined upon them by God, 
and a sacrilegious familiarity usurps its place. The ties 
which unite the family are loosened, debased, and pro- 
faned. Finally, they become obliterated, the family 
disperses, and is lost in the circles of the clubs and 
places of amusement. 

The history of the family may be traced in a few 



40 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



words. The divine family is the exemplar and model 
of the human family, and all its persons are eternal. 
The spiritual human family, which most closely ap- 
proaches the divine in perfection, exists through all 
time. Between the father and mother in the natural 
human family the tie lasts during life; and between 
them and their children it is prolonged many years. 
But in the human anti-Catholic family the relation be- 
tween the father and mother lasts only some years ; 
between them and the children only some months ; in 
the artificial family of clubs only a day ; and in that of 
places of amusement but for a moment. . 

In this, as in many other things, duration is the meas- 
ure of perfection. Between the divine family and the 
human family of the cloister, we find the same propor- 
tion as between time and eternity. When we compare 
the spiritual family of the cloister, which is the most 
perfect human type, and the sensual life of the clubs, 
which is the most imperfect, we again find the same 
proportion, as between the brevity of a moment and the 
immensity of all time. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



41 



CHAPTER III. 

Society as regulated by the Catholic Church. 

A criterion for the sciences, for the affections, and 
for human actions being fixed on the one hand, and on 
the other political authority being established for soci- 
ety, and domestic authority for the family, it was neces- 
sary to establish another authority placed above all 
human standards, as the infallible exponent of all 
dogmas, the august depository of all criterions, which 
should be at the same time sacred and sanctifying; the 
word of God incarnate in the world, the light of God 
reflected in all directions, the divine charity inflaming 
all souls; an authority which would accumulate the in- 
finite treasures of heavenly favors in the highest and 
most hidden tabernacle, in order to spread them over 
the world; which would be a place of refuge for sinful 
men, the refreshment of wearied souls, a source of living 
waters for the thirsty, bread of eternal life for the hun- 
gry, a light to the ignorant, and a guide to the wan- 
derer ; an authority which would admonish and instruct 
the powerful and protect and cherish the poor ; an author- 
ity so elevated as to command all, and based upon a 
rock too firm to be moved by the stormy waves of life's 
restless ocean; an authority which, being founded on 
God, could not be subjected to the fluctuations incident 
to all human events, and which would be ever ancient 
and ever new, duration and progress, and under the 
especial protection of God. 



42 



ESS\Y ON CATHOLICISM, 



This sovereign, infallible authority, created for eter- 
nity, and in which God is eternally pleased, is the holy 
Catholic, apostolic, and Roman Church; the mystical 
body of our Lord, blessed spouse of the Word, whose 
teachings to the world are the direct inspirations of the 
Holy Ghost; and which, being placed as it were between 
heaven and earth, exchanges the prayers of her chil- 
dren for celestial gifts, and unceasingly offers to the 
Father, for the salvation of the world, the most pre- 
cious blood of the Son, as a perpetual sacrifice and a 
most perfect holocaust. 

It would not be in accordance with the infinite wis- 
dom of God, who does all things in a complete and per- 
fect manner, to give the truth to the w T orld, and then, 
re-entering into an eternal repose, leave it exposed to 
the inroads of time, and subjected to the presumptuous 
disputes of men. Hence he conceived from all eternity 
the idea of his Church, which shone forth in the world, 
in the plenitude of time, resplendent with that high 
perfection and sovereign beauty that always exist in 
the divine mind. Since then, placed on a rocky emi- 
nence in the tempestuous sea of life, she stands a lu- 
minous beacon to the mariner. She knows in what 
consists our safety and in what our danger, our first be- 
ginning and our last end; what will cause the salvation 
and what the condemnation of mankind ; and she alone 
knows it. The only guide of souls, the sole illuminator 
of minds, the sole director of the will, the sole stimula- 
tor and purifier of the affections, she moves hearts, and 
moves them by the grace of the Holy Ghost. In her 
is neither sin, error, nor weakness; no stain rests on her 
robe; for her tribulations are triumphs, and the fury of 
the tempest but serves to lead her into a secure harbor. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



43 



All in her is spiritual, supernatural, and miraculous. 
She is spiritual, because her sway is over the mind, and 
her weapons of defense and of victory are spiritual; 
she is supernatural, because she disposes everything with 
regard to a supernatural end, and because it is her mis- 
sion to make men holy, and supernaturally sanctify 
them ; she is miraculous, because all the great mysteries 
were ordained for her institution, and because her exist- 
ence, her duration, her conquests are a perpetual mira- 
cle. The Father sent his Son upon the earth, the Son 
sent his apostles to the world, and the Holy Ghost to 
his apostles; so that in the fullness as in the beginning 
of time, in the institution of the Church as in the crea- 
tion of the universe, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 
assisted. Twelve sinners proclaim mysterious truths, 
which convulse the earth and enkindle in her veins a 
hitherto unknown fire. A mighty whirlwind envelops 
nations, carries away the people, subverts empires, and 
confounds races. Mankind sweat blood under the press- 
ure of a divine force. Bat out of all this distress, this 
confusion of races, of nations, of people — out of these 
devouring tempests, and of this fire which consumes the 
earth — the world comes forth radiant and renovated, re- 
posing at the feet of the Church of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

The gates of this mystical city of God lead in every 
direction, to signify her universal mission. u Unam 
omnium Rempublicam agnoscimus mundum" says Ter- 
tullian. For her there exists neither barbarian nor 
Greek, neither Jew nor Gentile. In her dwell the 
Scythian and the Roman, the Persian and the Macedo- 
nian, those who come from the east and the west, the 
north and the south. Her holy mission is to teach 



44 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM. 



wisdom ; her sway and her priesthood are both univer- 
sal; her subjects are kings and emperors, and her heroes 
are saints and martyrs; her invincible soldiery are the 
brave men who have subdued their carnal inclinations 
and irregular desires. It is God who invisibly presides 
over her grave deliberations, and her most sacred coun- 
cils. When her pontiffs speak to the earth, their infal- 
lible word has already been recorded by God in the 
heavens. 

The Church rests upon no human foundation. After 
having rescued the world from an abyss of corruption, 
she has brought it forth out of the darkness of barbar- 
ism. She has always fought the battles of the Lord, 
and, having suffered much tribulation, has always proved 
victorious. Heretics deny her doctrine, but she tri- 
umphs over heretics. Every human passion rebels 
against her empire, but she triumphs over all human 
passions. The final struggles of paganism were directed 
against her, but paganism lies vanquished at her feet. 
Kings and emperors persecute her, but the constancy 
of her martyrs overcomes the ferocity of their execu- 
tioners. She only contends for her sacred liberty, and 
the world accords her sovereign power. 

Under her most prolific rule the sciences have flour- 
ished, manners have been reformed, laws perfected, and 
all the great domestic, political, and social institutions 
have had a rich and spontaneous growth. Her anathe- 
mas have only been directed against impious men, re- 
bellious nations, and tyrannical kings. 

She has, in the defense of liberty, opposed those 
kings who have made a despotic use of power, and she 
has maintained the principle of authority in opposition 
to those nations who have attempted to effect an abso- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 45 

lute emancipation. Everywhere she has upheld the 
rights of God and the inviolability of his holy com- 
mandments. There is no truth that she has failed to 
proclaim, nor error that she has not anathematized. 
Liberty in truth she has always held sacred, but liberty 
in error is as hateful to her as error itself. She looks 
upon error as born and existing without rights, and she 
has therefore pursued, resisted, and extirpated it in the 
most hidden recesses of the human mind. As the per- 
petual illegitimacy and ignoring of error has been a re- 
ligious dogma, so has it also been a political dogma, 
proclaimed in all ages and by all rulers. All have con- 
sidered as beyond the pale of discussion the principle 
on which their power rested; all have denounced as 
error, and have deprived of all legitimacy and right, 
any principle opposed to that principle. They have all 
considered themselves infallible in this judgment, with- 
out appeal, and if all political errors have not been 
condemned, it is not because the conscience of mankind 
recognizes the legitimacy of any error, but because it 
has never admitted, in any human potentates, the privi- 
lege of infallibility in the qualification of error. As a 
consequence of this radical incapacity of human poten- 
tates to discriminate error, has arisen the principle of 
freedom of discussion, the foundation of modern consti- 
tutions. This principle does not suppose in society, as 
might appear at first sight, an incomprehensible and cul- 
pable impartiality between truth and error; it is based 
upon two other hypotheses, one of which is true and the 
other false. The first supposition is, that those who 
govern are not infallible, which is an evident truth; the 
other is based on the infallibility of discussion, which is 
false in every point of view. Infallibility cannot result 

5* 



46 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



from discussion, if it does not previously exist in those 
who argue; and it cannot exist in those who argue, if it 
does not also exist in those who govern. If infallibility 
is an attribute of human nature, it is found in the first 
as well as in the second; but if it is not an attribute of 
human nature, neither the first nor the second possess 
it. Either all are infallible or all are fallible. The 
question then is to decide whether human nature is fal- 
lible or infallible; which question resolves itself into 
this other: whether human nature is in a sound condi- 
tion or vitiated and fallen. 

According to the first supposition, infallibility, an 
essential quality of a sound understanding, is the first 
and greatest of all its attributes, and from this princi- 
ple the following consequences naturally follow: If the 
reason of man is infallible because it is sound, it cannot 
err because it is infallible; if it cannot err because it is 
infallible, then all men possess the truth, no matter 
whether we consider them collectively or separately. 
If all men possess the truth, either singly or collectively 
considered, then all their affirmations and negations are 
necessarily identical. If all their affirmations and ne- 
gations are identical, discussion is inconceivable and 
absurd. 

According to the second supposition, fallibility is a 
weakness of human reason, and is the first and greatest 
of human imperfections ; and proceeding from this 
principle are the following consequences : If the reason 
of man is fallible because it is infirm, it can never be 
certain of discerning the truth, because it is fallible; if 
it can never be sure of the truth because it is fallible, 
then this uncertainty is an essential characteristic of all 
men, whether we consider them singly or in the aggre- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



47 



gate. If this uncertainty exists in all men, collectively 
or individually, all their affirmations and negations must 
be a contradiction in terms, because they are necessarily 
uncertain; and if all their affirmations and negations 
are uncertain, discussion becomes absurd and incon- 
ceivable. 

Catholicism alone, as on all other points, has given a 
satisfactory and legitimate solution of this fearful prob- 
lem. Catholicism teaches the following doctrine: Man 
comes from God, and sin from man ; ignorance and error, 
as well as sorrow and death, come from sin; fallibility 
comes from ignorance, and from fallibility results the ab- 
surdity of discussion. But it adds, man was redeemed; 
which does not mean that by the act of redemption, and 
without any effort on his part, he was delivered from the 
slavery of sin; but it signifies, that through the redemp- 
tion he acquired the power to break these chains, and, 
ennobled and restored, to convert ignorance, error, sor- 
row, and death into means of sanctification by the proper 
use of his regained liberty. For this end, God insti- 
tuted his Church, immortal, impeccable, and infallible. 
The Church represents human nature without-sin^ such 
as it came from the hands of God, full of original jus- 
tice and of sanctifying grace ; and this is the reason 
why she is infallible, and not subject to death. God 
has established his Church upon the earth, in order that 
man, aided by grace, which is granted to all, may make 
himself worthy of having the blood, which was shed for 
him on Calvary, applied to him, by a free submission to 
its divine inspirations. By faith he will be enabled to 
vanquish ignorance, by patience he will overcome sor- 
row, and resignation will conquer death ; while death, 



43 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



sorrow, and ignorance only exist in order to be subdued 
by faith, resignation, and patience. 

It follows, then, that the Church alone has the right 
of affirmation and negation, and that there can exist no 
right to deny what she asserts, or to assert what she 
denies. "When society forgot the doctrinal decisions of 
the Church, and consulted either the press or the pulpit, 
the magazines or the public assemblies, as to what was 
truth or what was error, then all minds confounded truth 
and error, and society was plunged into a region of 
shadows and illusions. Finding it to be an imperative 
necessity to submit to truth and withdraw from error, 
yet finding it impossible to define what is error and 
what is truth, she forms a catalogue of conventional 
and arbitrary truths, and another of pretended errors ; 
and then she attempts to dictate as to what is to be 
believed, and what condemned. But she does not know, 
so great is her blindness, that in asserting some things 
and denying others, she neither believes nor rejects 
anything; or, if she condemns and adores anything, she 
condemns and adores herself. 

The doctrinal intolerance of the Church has saved the 
world from chaos. It has placed political, domestic, 
social, and religious truths beyond controversy. These 
primitive and sacred truths are not subject to discussion, 
because they are the basis of all discussion. The mo- 
ment there arises a doubt about them, that moment the 
mind becomes unsettled, being lost between truth and 
error, and the clear mirror of human reason is obscured. 
This serves to explain why society, whenever emanci- 
pated from the Church, has only wasted its time in 
ephemeral and sterile disputes, which can only result 
in complete skepticism, because complete skepticism is 



LIBERALISM, AKD SOCIALISM. 



49 



their point of departure. The Church, and the Church 
alone, has the sacred privilege of profitable and fruitful 
discussions. The Cartesian theory, according to which 
truth proceeds from doubt, as Minerva from the head 
of Jupiter, is at variance with that divine law, which 
regulates the generation of ideas as well as that of 
bodies, and in virtue of which contraries perpetually 
exclude their contraries, and like always begets like. 
As a consequence of this law, doubt always produces 
doubt, and skepticism begets skepticism, just as truth is 
derived from faith and science from truth. 

To the profound comprehension of this law of the in- 
tellectual generation of ideas we are indebted for the 
wonders of Catholic civilization. We owe to this mar- 
velous civilization all that we contemplate that is worthy 
of admiration. Its theologians, even humanly consid- 
ered, surpass all the modern and ancient philosophers ; 
its doctors astonish by the immensity of their learning ; 
and its historians eclipse those of antiquity, by the com- 
prehensiveness and generalization of their views. The 
City of God, by St. Augustin, is even now the most 
profound history that human genius, illumined by the 
light of Catholicism, has ever presented to the admira- 
tion of mankind. The decrees of its councils, aside 
from divine inspiration, are the most perfect monument 
of human prudence. The canon law is superior in wis- 
dom to the Roman and feudal laws. Who surpasses St. 
Thomas in science, St. Augustin in genius, Bossuet in 
majesty, St. Paul in power ? Who is a better poet than 
Dante ? Who equals Shakspeare ? Who excels Calde- 
ron ? Who, like Raphael, has ever clothed canvas with 
inspiration and life ? 

The Egyptian pyramids prove to the world the former 



50 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



existence of a great and barbarous civilization; the Gre- 
cian statues and temples exhibit a graceful, ephemeral, 
and brilliant cultivation ; the Roman monuments show 
that a great nation created them ; but the cathedral, in 
which is united so great majesty to so great beauty, so 
much grandeur to so much taste, such grace joined to 
such surpassing loveliness, unity so severe to so rich a 
variety, such a combination of moderation and boldness, 
such mellowness of tint and roundness of outline to such 
marvelous harmony between silence and light, shadows 
and colors, — this spectacle exhibits the most astonishing 
of civilizations and the greatest people of history; a 
people who combine the Egyptian grandeur, Grecian 
brilliancy, and Roman strength; and, added to all these, 
that which is beyond all strength, brilliancy and gran- 
deur, the immortal and the perfect. 

If we pass from the contemplation of the sciences, 
letters, and the arts, to the study of those institutions 
which the Church animates with her breath, nourishes 
with her substance, upholds with her spirit, and illu- 
mines with her light, we behold a spectacle equally sur- 
prising and wonderful. Catholicism, which refers all 
things to God, and orders all things in reference to 
God, and thus converts the most entire freedom into a 
constitutive element of order, and infinite variety into 
a constitutive element of infinite unity, is, by its very 
nature, the religion of vigorous associations, which are 
closely united through sympathetic affinities. 

In Catholicism, man never stands alone ; so that, in 
order to find a man severed from all ties, and consigned 
to that dismal and gloomy solitude where he becomes 
an embodiment of ignorance and pride, we must go be- 
yond its confines. In the vast circle described by limits 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



51 



so immense, men live grouped together, in obedience to 
the impulsion of their most noble affinities. These 
groups are connected one with the other, and all are 
united in a more general and comprehensive body, and 
move in submission to the law of a sovereign harmony. 
The child is born, and lives in the domestic association, 
which is the divine foundation of human associations. 
Families are grouped among themselves in conformity 
with the law of their origin, and, assembled in this man- 
ner, they form superior groups, which are called classes. 
The different classes have each their particular func- 
tions. Some cultivate the arts of peace, others those 
of war; some acquire glory, others administer justice; 
while others are devoted to industrial pursuits. Out of 
these natural groups others spontaneously arise, com- 
posed of those who seek glory by the same path, those 
who are devoted to the same industrial avocations, and 
those who have the same professions. These various 
groups are arranged in classes, and all these classes, 
hierarchically arranged among themselves, constitute 
the State, a vast association, of sufficient amplitude for 
all. This is the social point of view. 

Considered in a political aspect, families are asso- 
ciated into various groups ; each group of families con- 
stitutes a municipality, and each municipality is, for the 
families that compose it, a participation in common in 
the right of worshiping God, administering their own 
goods, providing nourishment for the living, and burial 
for the dead. For this reason each municipality has its 
temple, the symbol of its religious unity; a municipal 
hall, the symbol of its administrative unity; its terri- 
tory, the symbol of its jurisdictional and civil unity; 
and its cemetery, the symbol of its right of sepulture. 



52 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



This combination forms a municipal unity, which also 
has its symbol in the right to take up arms and display 
its banner. A confederation of municipalities forms a 
national unity, which in its turn is symbolized by a 
throne, and personified by a king. Above all these 
magnificent associations is that of all the Catholic na- 
tions, with their Christian princes fraternally united in 
the bosom of the Church. This perfect and sovereign 
association is one in its chief, and manifold in its mem- 
bers. Its variety is in the faithful dispersed through- 
out the world; while its oneness is in that holy chair 
at Rome, which is all radiant and encircled by divine 
splendors. This high chair is the central point of hu- 
manity, as it represents diversity through its general 
councils, and unity through the common father of the 
faithful, the Vicar of Jesus Christ. 

The Church, then, is the supreme variety, the sover- 
eign unity, the most excellent society. The various 
discordant elements of human societies are here con- 
cordant. The pontiff is king, both by divine right and 
by human right. The divine right shines forth in the in- 
stitution itself; the human right is chiefly manifested in 
the designation of the person. The designation of the 
sovereign pontiff is made by men, but it is God who 
ratifies their choice. As the pontifical dignity combines 
the human and divine sanction, so does it embrace the 
advantages of the elective and the hereditary monarchy. 
It has the popularity of the one and the inviolability and 
prestige of the other. Similar to the first, the pontifi- 
cal monarchy is limited on every side ; and, like the 
second, the limitations by which it is restrained do not 
come from without, but from within; they are not 
forced, but voluntary. These limitations have their 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



53 



foundation in an ardent charity, a wonderful humil- 
ity, and an infinite prudence. What a suprising mon- 
archy, in which the king, being elected, is venerated; 
and in which, though all are eligible to the supreme 
command, yet the sovereign power remains intact and 
undisturbed by domestic wars or civil strife! Where 
can we find a monarch in which the king chooses the 
electors, who in their turn elect the king, where all are 
elected and all are electors? Who does not here per- 
ceive the high and hidden mystery of unity perpetually 
begetting diversity, and diversity perpetually resolving 
itself into unity? Who does not see here a represent- 
ation of the concurrence of all things ? And who can 
fail to discover that this wonderful monarchy represents 
him who, being both true God and true man, unites in 
himself divinity and humanity, unity and variety? 

The occult law which regulates the generation of 
unity and diversity, must necessarily be the highest, the 
most universal, the most excellent, and the most myste- 
rious of all laws; because God has subjected all things 
to it, human and divine, created and uncreated, visible 
and invisible. It is one in essence, but infinite in its 
manifestations. All that exists seems to have being 
only in order to manifest it, and each separate existence 
reveals it under a new form. In one form it exists in 
God; in another manner in God made man; in another 
in his Church ; in another in the family ; in another in 
the universe; but it exists in all things in the whole 
and in each part of the whole. On the one hand it is 
an invisible and incomprehensible mystery; on the 
other, without ceasing to be a mystery, it is a visible 
phenomenon and a palpable fact. 

Near the king, whose province is to reign with a sov- 

6 



54 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



ereign independence and an absolute power, there is a 
perpetual senate, composed of princes who hold their 
office from Grod. This perpetual and sacred senate is 
invested with a governing power ; and yet this power is 
exercised in such a manner as neither to restrict, to 
diminish, or eclipse the supreme power of the monarch. 
The Church presents the only example of a monarchy 
remaining in continual contact with a powerful oligarchy, 
and preserving intact the plenitude of its rights; and 
hers is the only oligarchy which has remained in contact 
with an absolute monarch, without turbulence and rebel- 
lion. 

In the same manner as the princes of the Church 
come after their chief, so after the princes come the 
priests, who are charged with a most sacred ministry. 
This wonderful society entirely differs in its arrange- 
ments from all human associations. In the latter, the 
distinctions existing in the social hierarchy are so great 
that those of humble condition are tempted to rebel, 
and the elevated in rank are disposed to tyrannize. 

In the Church the disposition of things is such that 
neither tyranny nor rebellion is possible. Here the 
dignity of the subject is so great, that the greatness of 
the prelate is rather on account of that which he holds 
in common with the subject, than in consequence of any 
special prerogative which he enjoys as prelate. The pecu- 
liar dignity of the bishops does not consist in their being 
princes, nor that of the pontiff in his being king ; but it is 
in this, that both pontiff and bishops are priests like their 
subjects. Their highest and incommunicable privilege 
is not in their authority, but in the power to make the 
Son of God obedient to their voice, to offer the Son to 
the Father as an unbloody sacrifice for the sins of the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



55 



world, in their being the channels through which men 
receive the grace of Grod, and in the supreme and in- 
communicable right to remit and retain sins. In a 
word, the highest dignity is not the privilege of a por- 
tion, but that which belongs alike to all; this supreme 
dignity is neither the episcopacy nor the pontifical 
authority, but that of priest. 

If we take an isolated view of the pontifical author- 
ity, the Church would seem to be an absolute monarchy. 
If we consider by itself its apostolical constitution, it 
would seem to be a powerful oligarchy. If we regard on 
the one side the dignity common to prelates and priests, 
and on the other the wide distinction between priests 
and the people, it would seem to be an immense aristoc- 
racy. But when we behold the vast multitude of the 
faithful spread throughout the world, and see priests, 
bishops, and pontiffs employed in their service, and that 
nothing is ordained in this great society for the aggran- 
dizement of those who govern, but for the salvation of 
those who obey; when we consider the consoling dogma 
of the essential equality of souls; when we remember 
that the Saviour of mankind suffered the torments of the 
cross for each and every man; when the principle is 
proclaimed that it is the duty of the good pastor to die 
for his flock if necessary; when we reflect that the ulti- 
mate object of the different ministries of the priesthood 
is the reunion of the faithful, — the Church viewed in this 
light appears like an immense democracy, in the most 
glorious acceptation of this word, or at least like a 
society instituted for an end essentially popular and 
democratic. 

And, what is most surprising of all is, that the Church 
really is all that it appears to be. In other societies 



56 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM ? 



these various forms are incompatible with each other, or 
if by accident they are united, they invariably lose, by 
being so, many of their essential properties. A mon- 
archy cannot exist in conjunction with an oligarchy or 
an aristocracy, without the first losing much that natu- 
rally appertains to absolutism, nor can the second exist 
without a loss of power. A monarchy, an oligarchy, 
and an aristocracy cannot coexist with a democracy, 
without the latter losing its exclusive and absorbing 
character, as an aristocracy loses its power, an oligarchy 
its aggressive tendencies, a monarchy its absolutism. 
Their reciprocal relations cause their common annihila- 
tion. It is only in that supernatural society, the Church, 
that we find all these forms harmoniously combined 
without any diminution of their original purity and 
their primitive grandeur. This pacific combination of 
antagonistic forces, and of forms of government whose 
only law, humanly speaking, is to oppose each other, 
presents the most beautiful spectacle the world can 
offer. If the government of the Church could be de- 
fined, we might define it as an immense aristocracy that 
wields an oligarchic power, which is placed in the hands 
of an absolute king, whose peculiar function is to offer 
himself perpetually as a holocaust for the salvation of 
his people. This would indeed be the most surprising 
of definitions, as that which it defines is the greatest 
marvel of history ! 

To briefly recapitulate what has been said, we may 
venture to assert, without fear of being contradicted by 
facts, that through Catholicism all things have been 
regulated and made harmonious. This order and har- 
mony as regards man, proves that Catholicism has sub- 
jected the passions to the will, the will to the under- 
standing, the understanding to reason, reason to faith, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



57 



and faith to charity, in virtue of which man is renewed 
in God, and purified with an infinite love. With respect 
to the family, it shows that by Catholicism the three 
domestic persons have been definitively constituted, be- 
ing united in one, and bound together by the happiest 
ties. It also proves, as regards rulers, that Catholicism 
has sanctified authority and obedience, and forever con- 
demned tyranny and revolution. As relates to society, 
we likewise see the influence of Catholicism in putting a 
stop to the war of classes, in harmonizing the various 
social groups, and in introducing a spirit of union in 
place of that egotism and isolation which before ex- 
isted, and in substituting charity for pride. With regard 
to the sciences, letters, and the arts, we find that man- 
kind are indebted to Catholicism for the discovery of 
the true and the beautiful; of the true God and his 
divine splendor. And finally, we see that with Cathol- 
icism has appeared in the world a supernatural society, 
which is most excellent and perfect, and founded by 
God ; a society preserved and assisted by God, and 
which is the perpetual depository of his eternal word, 
which nourishes the world with the bread of life, which 
can neither deceive nor be deceived, which teaches to 
all men the lessons of its divine Master, and is the per- 
fect likeness of his divine excellence, the sublime exem- 
plar and finished model of human societies. 

In the following chapters we shall fully demonstrate 
that neither Christianity nor the Catholic Church (which 
is its positive expression) has been able to do such 
great things, to cause such marvelous changes, without 
the unceasing and supernatural action of God, who gov- 
erns society supernaturally through his providence, and 
man through his grace. 

6* 



58 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



CHAPTER IV. 

Catholicism is Love. 

There exists the same difference between the Catho- 
lic Church and the other societies spread throughout 
the world, as between natural and supernatural concep- 
tions, and as between the human and the divine. 

The pagan world considered society and the city as 
identical. For the Roman, society was Rome ; and for 
the Athenian, it was Athens. Outside of Athens and 
of Rome were only a barbarous and rude people, who 
were coarse and unpolished, and unsocial by nature. 
Christianity not only revealed human society to man, 
but also another society, much higher and more excel- 
lent, whose immensity has neither bounds nor limits, 
whose citizens are the saints who triumph in heaven, 
the just who suffer in purgatory, and the Christians who 
combat on the earth. 

If we carefully investigate the records of history, and 
meditate upon them, we shall discover with amazement 
that this gigantic conception cannot be explained by 
anything we find there recorded. It made its appear- 
ance alone, unexpectedly, and without antecedents. It 
came as a supernatural revelation, communicated to man 
supernaturally. The world received it at once, and 
without having perceived its coming; when it was seen, 
it was already come, when it was recognized at a glance, 
and as by inspiration. Who but God, who is love, could 



LIBERALISM, AST) SOCIALISM. 



59 



teach those who combat here, that they are in com- 
munion with those who suffer in purgatory, and those 
who triumph in heaven ? Who but God could unite in 
loving bonds the living and the dead, the just, saints, 
and sinners ? Who but God could connect oceans so 
immense ? 

The law of unity and of variety, that law by excel- 
lence which is both human and divine, without which 
nothing can be explained, and which explains all things, 
is here shown to us in one of its most surprising manifesta- 
tions. Diversity exists in heaven, since the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost are three persons ; and this 
diversity is merged, without confusion, into unity ; be- 
cause the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy 
Ghost is God, and God is one. Diversity existed in the 
terrestrial paradise, because Adam and Eve were differ- 
ent persons ; and this diversity is merged, without being 
blended, into unity, because Adam and Eve represent 
human nature, and human nature is one. In our Lord 
Jesus Christ there is diversity, because there is a con- 
junction of the divine nature on the one hand and the cor- 
poral and spiritual elements of his human nature on the 
other. The human and divine natures are merged, with- 
out being confounded, in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is 
only one in person. Finally, diversity also exists in the 
Church, because she is militant on earth, suffering in 
purgatory, and triumphant in heaven ; and this diversity 
is merged, without being confounded, in our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the sole head of the universal Church ; and who, 
as the only Son of the Father, is, like the Father, the 
symbol of a diversity of persons in a unity of essence : 
as he is also, in quality of God-man, the symbol of a 
diversity of essence in a unity of person ; and, being at 



60 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM. 



the same time God-man and the Son of God. he is the 
symbol of all possible diversities and of infinite unity. 

As supreme harmony consists in this, that the unity, 
out of which all diversity arises, and into which all diver- 
sity resolves itself, should be identical with itself in all 
its manifestations, it follows that it is always in virtue 
of one and the same law that diversity resolves itself 
into unity. The diversity of the Holy Trinity becomes 
one through love. Human diversity, composed of the 
father, the mother, and the son, becomes one through 
love. The human and divine natures become one, in 
our Lord Jesus Christ, through the incarnation of the 
Word in the womb of the Virgin, which is a mystery of 
love. The Church militant, the Church suffering, and 
the Church triumphant are one in our Lord Jesus Christ, 
through the prayers of Christians in heaven, whose peti- 
tions descend as a beneficent dew upon those who com- 
bat; and, through the prayers of the Church militant, 
whose efficacy falls like a revivifying shower upon those 
who suffer, for perfect prayer is the ecstasy of love. 
"God is' charity; and he that abideth in charity abideth 
in God, and God in him." If God is charity, then char- 
ity is the infinite unity, because God is infinite unity. 
If he who has charity is in God, and God in him. then 
God may descend even unto man through charity, and 
man may ascend even unto God through charity; and 
all this, without confusion, and in such a manner that 
neither God, made man, loses his divine nature, nor man, 
made God, loses his human nature, man always remain- 
ing man, although he is God, arrd God always God, 
although he is man. All this is accomplished by means 
exclusively supernatural, that is, by means exclusively 
divine. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



61 



All nations have had some comprehension of this 
greatest of all Catholic dogmas; as they have possessed 
a knowledge more or less correct, more or less complete, 
of other Catholic dogmas. In every zone, in all ages, 
and among every human race, an immortal belief has 
been preserved of a future transformation, which will 
be so radical and supreme that it will forever unite the 
creature to the Creator, the human to the divine nature. 
Even in the paradisiacal era, the enemy of mankind 
spoke to our first parents of their being gods. Since 
the prevarication and the fall, this wonderful tradition 
has everywhere been prevalent, and every scholar will 
find traces of its existence in all theologies, however 
slight may be his investigations. The difference between 
the pure dogma, as preserved in Catholic theology, and 
the dogma as corrupted by human traditions, is in the 
manner in which this supreme transformation and sov- 
ereign end is attained. The angel of darkness did not 
deceive our first parents, when he affirmed that they 
would become as gods. The fraud consisted in hiding 
from them the supernatural way of love, and revealing 
to them the natural way of disobedience. The error 
committed by pagan theologians was not in asserting that 
humanity ought to be elevated to a union with God, but 
their error consisted in having considered the divine and 
human natures as nearly identical ; while Catholicism 
regards them as essentially distinct, and arrives at unity 
through the supernatural deification of man. This pagan 
superstition is manifest in the divine honors paid to the 
earth, as the immortal and prolific mother of the gods ; 
and likewise in the worship of various creatures, whom 
they confounded with their gods. Lastly, the difference 
between Pantheism and Catholicism is not, that the one 



62 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



affirms and the other denies the deification of man, 
but that Pantheism asserts that man is God in virtue of 
his own nature ; while Christianity teaches that man 
may become as God, supernaturally, through grace. 
Pantheism teaches that man, a part of the being which 
is God, is completely absorbed by the being of which he 
forms a part; while Catholicism teaches that man, even 
after being deified, that is to say, penetrated with the 
divine essence, yet preserves inviolate the individuality 
of his own existence. The respect which God has for 
human individuality, or, what is the same thing, for the 
free will of man, which is what constitutes his absolute 
and inviolable individuality, is so great, according to 
Catholic dogma, that God has been willing to divide 
with it the direction of all human associations, which 
are governed both by the freedom of man and by the 
divine counsel. Love is in its nature fruitful, and be- 
cause it is fruitful, it engenders diversity without impair- 
ing its own unity; and because it is love, it resolves all 
things into one, without blending them. Love is, then, 
infinite variety and infinite unity. It is the sole law, 
the highest rule, the only way, the last end. Catholi- 
cism is love, because God is love. Only he who loves 
is Catholic, and only the Catholic learns the true nature 
of love, because he alone receives what he knows through 
supernatural and divine means. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



63 



CHAPTER V. 

That our Lord Jesus Christ has not triumphed over the world 
by the sanctity of his doctrines, or by prophecies and mira- 
cles, but in spite of all these things. 

The Father is love, and through love he sent his Son 
into the world; the Son is love, and he sent the Holy 
Ghost through love ; the Holy Ghost is love, and he 
inspires the Church perpetually with his love; the Church 
is love, and she will inflame the world with the same 
spirit of love. Those who do not comprehend, or who 
have forgotten this, are entirely ignorant of the super- 
natural and secret cause of evident and natural phe- 
nomena ; of the invisible cause of all that is visible ; 
of that which binds the temporal to the eternal ; of the 
most secret impulses of the soul ; and of the manner in 
which the Holy Spirit acts in man, Providence in society, 
and God in history. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not conquer the world by 
his wonderful doctrine. Had he only been a teacher of 
surprising tenets, the world would have admired him for 
a moment, and then forgotten both the doctrine and the 
man. Astonishing as was his doctrine, it was only em- 
braced by a few among the common people, always 
despised by the greater portion of the Jewish nation, 
and was unknown to mankind during the life of the 
Master. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not conquer the world by 
his miracles. Among those who saw him change the 



64 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



nature of things by his word alone, who saw him walk 
upon the waters, quiet the sea, calm the winds, and re- 
store the dead to life, some called him God, others devil, 
and others again, a juggler and a magician. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not conquer the world be- 
cause the ancient prophecies were fulfilled in him. The 
synagogue, which had the keeping of them, was not con- 
verted, nor the doctors who knew these prophecies by 
heart, nor the multitude who had learned them from the 
doctors. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not conquer the world by 
the power of truth. The essential truth of Christianity 
was in the Old as in the New Testament, as it is neces- 
sarily one, eternal, and the same. This truth, which 
existed forever in the mind of God, was revealed to man, 
instilled into his soul, and preserved in history, from the 
first promulgation of the divine word to the world. Yet 
the Old Testament, both in its eternal and essential teach- 
ings, and in what was secondary, local, and contingent, 
both in its dogmas and its rites, never passed beyond 
the territory of the chosen people of God. This people 
were many times guilty of rebellion, they persecuted 
their prophets, treated their doctors with derision, wor- 
shiped the idols of the heathen nations, made unlawful 
covenants with infernal spirits, gave themselves up, body 
and soul, to horrible and bloody superstitions; and, 
finally, when the Word became flesh, cursed him, denied 
him, and crucified him on Calvary. And while the 
Truth was crucified, which had been hidden in the an- 
cient symbols, represented in the ancient types, an- 
nounced by the prophets of old* and attested by striking 
prodigies and stupendous miracles ; while this Truth 
came by its presence to explain, the meaning of those 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



65 



prodigies and of those stupendous miracles, in order to 
accomplish prophecy and teach the nations the significa- 
tion of what was represented by ancient types and hid- 
den in ancient symbols; at this very time error had 
spread over the whole world, and had obscured the 
entire horizon; and all this with the greatest rapidity, 
and unaided by prophets, symbols, types, and miracles. 
What a terrible lesson and memorable example for those 
who believe that the recondite and expansive force of 
truth will, in itself, suffice to prevail over the radical 
impotency of error throughout the world ! 

If our Lord Jesus Christ overcame the world, He did 
it in spite of being the Truth, in spite of being the one 
announced by the prophets of old, represented by an- 
cient symbols, and prefigured by ancient types; He over- 
came it in spite of his prodigious miracles and most 
wonderful doctrine. No other doctrine than that of the 
Gospel could have triumphed with this immense mass of 
clearest testimony, irrefragable proof, and unanswerable 
argument. It is true that Mahometanism spread like a 
deluge over the African, Asiatic, and European conti- 
nents, but there was nothing in it to embarrass its prog- 
ress, and all its miracles, arguments, and proofs were 
established at the sword's point. 

Fallen and corrupt man has not been made for the 
truth, nor the truth for him. Since man's prevarica- 
tion, God has placed between truth and human reason 
an unconquerable and imperishable repugnance. Truth, 
by its very nature, claims supremacy, and cannot con- 
sent to solicit obedience as a favor ; while, since he re- 
belled against God, man insists upon being governed by 
his own will, and refuses to receive any yoke imposed 
upon him without his consent. Therefore, when truth 

7 



66 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



is presented to him, he immediately denies it, and in so 
doing asserts his own absolute sovereignty. If he can- 
not deny it, he combats it, and in so doing strives to 
assert his own supremacy. If he conquers truth, he 
crucifies it ; if he is conquered by it, he flies, and by 
flight he believes that he escapes from servitude ; and 
in crucifying truth, he believes that he crucifies his 
tyrant. 

There is, on the contrary, a secret and close affinity 
between human reason and absurdity. Sin has united 
them by the bonds of an indissoluble alliance, Absurd- 
ity triumphs over man, precisely because it possesses no 
right anterior and superior to human reason ; man ac- 
cepts it precisely on that account, because, having no 
right, it makes no pretensions. His will accepts it, 
because it is the child of his understanding ; and his 
reason delights in it, because it is its own offspring, its 
own creation, and the living testimony of its creative 
power. In the act of its creation man resembles God, 
and he calls himself God ; and if he is God after the 
manner of God, all the rest is but of little consequence 
to him. What matters it that the other be the God 
of truth, if he himself be the God of absurdity? At 
least he will be independent and sovereign like God. 
In worshiping his own work he will adore himself ; and 
in exalting it he will exalt himself. You who aspire to 
subjugate people, to rule nations, and to control human 
reason, proclaim not that you are the depositaries of clear 
and evident truths; above all, beware of producing your 
proofs, if you have them, because the world will never 
acknowledge your authority, but will rather rebel against 
the rude yoke, which such evidence would impose upon 
them. Proclaim, on the contrary, that you possess an 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



67 



argument which will disprove a mathematical truth, 
which will demonstrate that two and two do not make 
four, but five; that there is no God, or that man is God; 
that the world has until now been the slave of shameful 
superstitions ; that the wisdom of ages is simply pure 
ignorance ; that all revelation is an imposture ; that all 
government is tyranny and all obedience slavery; that 
beauty is deformity and deformity most beautiful ; that 
good is evil and evil is good ; that the devil is God and 
God is the devil; that beyond this world there is neither 
hell nor heaven ; that the world we inhabit is, and has 
been, a real hell, but that man can transform it into a 
true paradise, which it is destined to become ; that lib- 
erty, equality, and fraternity are dogmas incompatible 
with the Christian superstition ; that theft is an impre- 
scriptible right, and that property is theft ; that order 
does not exist except in anarchy, and that there is no 
anarchy without order. Announce these propositions, 
and you may rest assured that, at the mere assertion of 
such things, the world will wonder at your wisdom, and, 
fascinated by such a display of science, will listen to 
your opinions with the greatest attention and respect. 
If, in addition to the good sense you will display in 
offering to prove these statements, you make no attempt 
to prove any one of them ; or if, as the proof of these 
blasphemies and affirmations, you simply reiterate the 
very same things, then the world will praise you beyond 
measure, and raise you to the skies. If, after all this, 
you direct attention to your good faith, which does not 
fear to present things as they are, unaided by the vain 
show of futile reasons and useless historical antecedents 
or miracles, and thus give a public testimony of your 
belief that truth will triumph of itself; if, finally, you 



68 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM, 



challenge a refutation of your statements, no matter 
from what quarter it may come — then the world, in an 
ecstasy of astonishment, will unanimously proclaim your 
magnanimity, your greatness, and your success, and will 
pronounce you pious, happy, and triumphant ! 

I know not if there exists anything under the sun, 
more vile and despicable than mankind, outside of the 
Catholic way. 

In the scale of degradation and vileness, the multi- 
tude who are oppressed by tyrants and deceived by 
sophists are the most degraded and abject; the soph- 
ists who deceive them rank next ; and the tyrants, who 
sway a bloody scepter over both, are, to the eye of the 
careful observer, the least debased and contemptible of 
all. The first idolaters had scarcely abandoned God, 
when they delivered themselves up to the Babylonian 
tyrants. We see ancient paganism going from one 
abyss to another, from sophism to sophism, from tyrant 
to tyrant, until it falls into the hands of Caligula, a 
horrid and frightful monster in human shape, the victim 
of insensate desires and bestial inclinations. Modern 
paganism commenced by self-worship in the person of 
a prostitute, to be crushed at the feet of Marat, the 
cynical and bloody tyrant, and the cruel Robespierre, 
who. with his inexorable and ferocious instincts, was the 
supreme embodiment of human vanity. The new form 
of paganism is destined to fall into a still more profound 
and obscure abyss. Already, perhaps, from under the 
depths of social corruption, the monster gains strength, 
who will one day impose upon society a still heavier and 
more shameless yoke than any it has as yet borne, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



69 



CHAPTER VI. 



That our Lord Jesus Christ has triumphed over the world 
exclusively by supernatural means. 

When I shall be raised on high, that is to say, on the 
cross, then will I draw all things unto me ; or, in other 
words, then will my dominion and my victory over the 
world be assured. Our Lord revealed to his disciples, 
in these solemnly prophetical words, how little availed 
for the conversion of the world the prophecies which 
announced his coming, the miracles which manifested 
his omnipotence, the sanctity of his doctrine, the testi- 
mony of his glory; and how powerful in effecting that 
object would be his immense love, as made known to the 
world by his crucifixion and death. 

u Ego veni in nomine Patris mei, et non aecipitis me: 
si alius venerit in nomine suo, ilium aceipietis."* In 
these words our Lord announced the natural triumph of 
error over truth, of evil over good. They contain the 
secret of the universal forgetfulness of God, of the ter- 
rible propagation of pagan superstitions, and of the 
gloomy darkness prevailing over the world. They also 
foretell the spread of error among men, the tribulations 
of the Church, the persecutions of the just, the victories 
of the sophists, and the popularity of blasphemers. 
These words are a summary of history, with all its 
scandals, all its heresies, and all its revolutions. They 



* John, v. 4, 3. 



70 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



also explain why the Jewish people, when called upon 
to choose between Barabbas and Jesus, condemned Jesus 
and liberated Barabbas ; and why the world to-day, 
having the power of choice between Catholic theology 
and socialism, chooses socialism and rejects Catholi- 
cism ; and why human discussions result in the denial 
of the evident and in the acceptance of the absurd. 

We find included in these truly wonderful words the 
secret of all that our fathers witnessed, of all that our 
children will witness, and of all that we ourselves see. 
No ; it is impossible for any one to go to the Son, that 
is, to discover the truth, if the Father do not call him. 
These are profound words, which attest at the same time 
the omnipotence of God, and the radical, invincible 
impotence of mankind. 

But the Father will call, and the nations will respond ; 
the Son will be raised on the cross, and will draw all 
men unto him. This is the saving promise of the super- 
natural triumph of truth over error, of good over evil. 
This is the promise which will be fulfilled even to the 
end of time. 

" Pater mens usque modo operatur : et ego operor. 
Sieut Pater. . . . sic etfilius quos vult vivificat."* 
"Expedit vobis ut ego vadam : si enim non abiero, 
Paraclitus non veniet ad vos: si autem abiero mittam 
eum ad vos""\ 

Neither the tongues of all the doctors, nor the pens 
of all the scholars, would suffice to explain all that is 
embraced in these words. They proclaim the sovereign 
virtue of grace, and the supernatural, invisible, and per- 
manent action of the Holy Ghost. In them we find the 



* John, v. 17, 21. 



f John, xvi. 7. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



71 



Catholic supernaturalism, with its infinite fecundity and 
its unspeakable marvels, and, above all, an explanation 
of the greatest and most inconceivable of wonders — the 
triumph of the cross. 

Christianity, humanly speaking, must of necessity 
have succumbed : First, because it was the truth ; and 
secondly, because it adduced in its support the most 
eloquent testimony, wonderful miracles, and irrefraga- 
ble proofs. Mankind have never failed to protest against 
all and each one of these things ; and it was not proba- 
ble, nor credible, nor in any way possible, that they 
should fail to protest against and oppose all these things 
when united. Hence their blasphemies, protests, and 
rebellions. 

But, the Just One was crucified through love, shed 
his blood through love, and gave up his life through 
love ; and this infinite love, this most precious blood, 
merited for the world the coming of the Holy Spirit. 
Then all things were changed by faith, because reason 
was conquered by faith, and nature by grace. 

How admirable in his works is God ! how wonderful 
in his designs ! how sublime in his thoughts ! Man and 
truth were antagonistic ; the indomitable pride of the 
one could not brook the rude and imperious evidence of 
the other. God tempered this evidence of truth, by vail- 
ing it in a transparent cloud, and he sent faith to 
man, and added to the gift this compact, saying, "I 
will divide my power with thee ; I will tell thee what 
thou hast to believe, and I will give thee strength to re- 
ceive my word, but I will not oppress thy sovereign will 
with the weight of evidence. I will help thee to 
save thyself, but I will leave thee the power to lose 
thyself. Work out thy salvation with me, or, unaided 



72 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



by me, lose thyself if thou wilt. I will not deprive thee 
of what I have given to thee, and the day that I created 
thee out of nothing I gave to thee free will." Such was 
the pact that God made with man, which, by the grace 
of God, was freely accepted by him ; and in this way 
the dogmatical obscurity of Catholicism saved its his- 
torical evidence from certain shipwreck. Faith, having 
a greater conformity than evidence with human reason, 
saved this reason from destruction. Truth had to be 
proposed by faith, in order to be accepted by man, who 
is naturally disposed to rebel against the tyranny of 
evidence. 

The same Spirit that indicates to us what we must 
believe, and gives us the strength to accept it, likewise 
makes known to us what we must do, gives us the wish 
to perform it, and assists us in the performance. The 
wretchedness of man is so great, his abjection so pro- 
found, his ignorance so absolute, and his impotency so 
radical, that he cannot of himself form a good intention, 
nor plan any great design, nor conceive an earnest de- 
sire of anything that will please God or save his soul. 
On the other hand, his dignity is so great, his nature so 
noble, his origin so excellent, his end so glorious, that 
God himself thinks with his thought, sees with his eyes, 
walks with his feet, and works with his hands. It is 
God who supports man that he may walk, upholds him 
that he may not falter, and gives his angels charge over 
him, that he may not fall. And if, notwithstanding all 
this, he should fall, He lifts him up, restores him, gives 
him the wish to persevere, and aids him to do so. For 
this reason, St. Augustin says, we believe that no one 
finds the way of salvation unless God calls him, and 
that no one after being called performs works unto sal- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



vation, if God does not aid him. In effect, God thus 
speaks in the gospel of St. John, xv. 4, 5: "Manete in 
me et ego in vobis. Sicut palmes non potest f err e f rue- 
tum d semetipso, nisi manserit in vite; sic nec vos, nisi 
in me manseritis. Ego sum vitis : vos palmites ; qui 
manet in me, et ego in eo, hie fert fructum multum : 
quia sine me nihil potestis facere" The Apostle, in 
the second epistle to the Corinthians, hi. 4, 5, says : 
"Fiduciam autem talem habemus per Christum ad 
Deum, non quod suffieientes simus cogitare aliquid d 
nobis quasi ex nobis: sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est." 
Holy Job confessed the same radical impotency of man 
in the affair of salvation, when he said, (ch. xiv.): "Who 
can make him clean, that is conceived of unclean seed ? 
Is it not Thou who only art?" Moses says, (Exodus, 
ch. xxxiv.): "No man of himself is innocent before 
Thee." St. Augustin, in the inimitable book of his 
Confessions, addressing God, says: "Lord, give me 
grace to do what thou directest, and direct what seems 
best unto thee." So that in the same manner that God 
declares to me what I must believe, and gives me strength 
to believe it, he declares to me what I must do, and 
gives me grace to perform what he has ordained. 

What mind can comprehend, what tongue declare, 
what pen describe, the manner in which God performs 
these wonderful prodigies in man ; and how he leads 
him in the way of salvation with mercy and justice, 
sweetness and power ? Who can define the boundaries 
of this spiritual empire, between the divine will and the 
free will of man ? Who can explain how they co-oper- 
ate without confusion, and without impairing each other ? 
Only one thing do I know, Lord, that poor and hum- 
ble as I am, and great and powerful as thou art, thou 



74 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



respectest me as much as thou lovest me, and thou lovest 
me as much as thou respectest me. I know that thou 
wilt not abandon me to myself, because, without thy aid, 
I can do nothing but forget thee and lose myself : and 
I know that thou extendest to me a helping hand in so 
mild, so loving, and so tender a manner, that I do not 
feel its weight. Thou art as the gentle zephyr and as 
the strong north wind. Thou compellest me as the 
north wind, and I move toward thee freely, as if at- 
tracted by the gentle breeze. Thou urgest me to ad- 
vance by the force of a potent impulsion, but thou dost 
not constrain me except by entreaty. It is I who act, 
and yet thou dost act in me. Thou comest to my door, 
and sweetly callest me, and if I do not answer, thou 
waitest, and again thou dost call. I know that I can 
refuse to admit thee, and lose myself ; and I can like- 
wise receive thee, and save myself. But I also know 
that I cannot answer thee if thou dost not call me, and 
that when I answer thee, I reply as thou instructest 
me; thine being the invitation, and thine and mine being 
the response. I know that I can do nothing without 
thee, that I act by thee, and that my acts are meri- 
torious. But if I merit, it is by thy aid, as it is through 
thy aid I have been enabled to act. When thou re- 
wardest me because my works are meritorious, and when 
I merit on account of my good works, thou givest me 
three graces : the grace of recompense, with which thou 
requitest the grace of merit, which thou gavest me, and 
which is the reward of the grace by which I was enabled 
to act through thee. Thou art like the mother, and I 
am as the infant, which the mother encourages to walk, 
extending her hand that it may do so, and when it 
makes the attempt embraces it, because it walks guided 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



75 



by her hand. I know that if I write, it is because thou 
hast inspired me with the desire to do so, and that I 
only write that which thou teachest me, or permittest 
me to write ; I believe that he who attempts to accom- 
plish anything without thee, neither knoweth thee, nor 
is he a Christian. 

I beg that my readers will pardon a laic and a secular 
for daring to enter upon the abstruse and thorny question 
of grace. But all must acknowledge, notwithstanding, 
that the discussion of this vexed question was an impera- 
tive exigency, arising from the very grave subject that 
I have just treated in the preceding chapters. I at- 
tempted to give a proper explanation of that prodigy — 
ever ancient and ever new — the powerful action that 
Christianity has exercised in the world, in order to 
understand, through it, the no less stupendous and pro- 
digious mystery of the power it possesses of transform- 
ing human societies. The prodigy of its propagation 
and its triumph is not due to historical proofs, to pro- 
phetical predictions, or to the sanctity of its doctrines. 
In the condition to which man was reduced by the pre- 
varication and the fall, all these were circumstances 
rather fitted to embarrass Christianity than to carry it 
triumphant to the remotest corners of the earth. Neither 
had miracles any part in working this prodigy, because, 
although considered in themselves, they certainly are 
supernatural, yet, as exterior evidence, they only con- 
stitute a natural proof, subjected to the same conditions 
as other human testimony. The propagation and the 
triumph of Christianity are supernatural facts, because 
its propagation and triumph have taken place in spite 
of its containing within itself all the elements which 
would have impeded its advancement and victory. As 



76 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



supernatural facts they could not be legitimately ex- 
plained, without referring to a cause which, in its nature 
supernatural, must have had an exterior manifestation 
in conformity with its own essence, that is, supernatural. 
This cause, which is supernatural in itself and super- 
natural in its action, is grace. 

Grace was merited for us by our Lord when he suf- 
fered a frightful death on the cross, and the Apostles 
received it, when the Holy Ghost, the author of all 
grace and of all sanctification, descended upon them. 
The Holy Ghost infused into the Apostles the grace 
which was merited for us by the death of the Son, 
through the compassion of the Father. The Holy Trin- 
ity in this manner effected the ineffable work of our 
salvation, as before it had created the world. 

This helps to explain two things, which otherwise 
would be quite unintelligible, namely, why it was that 
the Apostles performed greater miracles than their Di- 
vine Master, and why their miracles were productive of 
greater results than those of our Lord, as he himself 
repeatedly and on different occasions foretold to them. 
The reason is that, during the prolongation of ages, 
extending from the days of Adam to the end of time, 
the universal redemption of mankind was to be the price 
of the bloody tragedy on the cross ; and until this 
sacrifice was consummated, the gates of the heavenly 
mansions were firmly closed against the unfortunate race 
of Adam. 

In the fullness of time, the Spirit of God descended 
upon the Apostles like a whirlwind, under the form of 
tongues of fire. Then it came to pass that, without any 
transition whatever, they were instantly and completely 
renewed, by the action of a supernatural and divine 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



77 



power. The Apostles were the first to experience this 
change. They had not seen, and their eyes were 
opened; they had not comprehended, and they were 
enlightened ; they were ignorant, and they became 
wise; their language had been vulgar, and now they dis- 
coursed of wonderful things. The malediction of Babel 
was removed. Until then, each nation had spoken its 
own tongue ; the Apostles spoke them all without con- 
fusion. They had been pusillanimous, and they became 
courageous ; they had been cowardly, and they became 
intrepid ; they had been indolent, and they became dili- 
gent. They had forsaken their Master for the flesh and 
the world, and now they abandoned the world and the 
flesh for their Master ; they had deserted the cross to 
save their lives, and now they gave their lives to em- 
brace the cross. They died in their members, that their 
souls might live, and be renewed in God ; they ceased 
to be as men, and lived like angels; they no longer lived 
a human life. 

As the Holy Spirit transformed the Apostles, the 
Apostles transformed the world ; yet not they in truth, 
but the invincible spirit that w T as infused into them. 
The world had seen God, and had not known him ; and, 
now that he was no longer with it, it acknowledged him. 
It had not believed in his word, and, now that he no 
longer spoke to it, it believed in his word. It had wit- 
nessed his miracles in vain, and, now that he had gone 
to his Father, it received them as true. It had crucified 
Jesus, and now it adored him whom it had crucified. It 
had worshiped idols, and now it destroyed them. What 
it had considered as fallacious arguments, it now assented 
to as invincible and victorious truths. Its profound 
hatred was changed into love. 

8 



78 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



He who has no idea of grace, has no idea of Chris- 
tianity; and he who takes no heed of the providence of 
God, is in the most complete ignorance of all things. 
Providence, understood in its most general acceptation, 
is the care of the Creator over all things created. 
Things exist, because God created them ; but they 
would cease to exist without his constant protection, 
which is truly an unceasing creation. That which, pre- 
vious to its creation, had in itself no necessity of exist- 
ence, has no inherent power of continuance after its 
creation. God alone is life, and the reason of life ; 
being, and the reason of being; subsistence, and the 
reason of subsistence. Nothing exists, nothing lives, 
and nothing subsists of itself. Outside of God, these 
supreme attributes have no existence. God does not 
resemble the artist who, after making a picture, leaves, 
abandons, and forgets his work ; nor does that which 
God creates subsist like the painting, which subsists of 
itself. God created things in a more sovereign manner, 
and after their creation they depend on him in a more 
substantial and more excellent way. Those which be- 
long to the natural order, to the supernatural, and also 
those which, out of the common, natural, and supernat- 
ural order are called, and really are, miraculous, though 
they cease not to have points of difference, under the 
distinct laws which govern them, still retain in common 
their absolute dependence on the divine will. We do 
not affirm all that may be affirmed with regard to fount- 
ains and trees, when we assert that the former flow 
and the latter bear fruit, because this is their nature. 
Things possess no inherent virtue of their own, inde- 
pendent of the will of their Creator, but' only a certain 
determined mode of their existence, which leaves them 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



79 



in an unceasing dependence upon the will of the sov- 
ereign Maker and divine Architect. The fountains flow 
and the trees bear fruit, because God has so ordained 
them through a positive law, and he orders their course 
now, as in the day of their creation, because he sees 
that it is good to do so. Consequently, we perceive 
how mistaken are those persons who seek the ultimate 
explanation of events, either in their secondary causes, 
which exist entirely under the general and particular 
care of God, or in chance, which has no existence what- 
ever. God alone is creator of all that exists, and pre- 
server of all that subsists, and the author of all that 
happens, as we learn from these words of Ecclesiasticus, 
xi. 14: "Bona et mala, vita et mors, paupertas et hones- 
tas, d Deo sunt." For this reason, St. Basil says, that 
to refer all to God, is the sum of all Christian philoso- 
phy ; and in conformity with what our Saviour says in St. 
Matthew, x. 29, 30 : "Nonne duo passeres asse vseneunt? 
Et unus ex illis non cadet super terram sinepatre vestro. 
Vestri autem capilli capitis omnes numerati sunt." 

Regarding things from this height, we clearly see that 
the natural depends on God in the same manner as the 
supernatural and the miraculous. The miraculous, the 
supernatural and the natural, are substantially identical 
phenomena, on account of their origin, which is the will 
of God — a will which is actually exercised over them 
all — and is in all eternal. God actually and eternally 
intended the resurrection of Lazarus, even as he actually 
and eternally intended that the trees should fructify. 
And the trees, apart from the will of God, have no in- 
herent power to produce fruit, more than Lazarus had 
to rise from the grave after death. The difference be- 
tween these phenomena is not in their essence, because 



80 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM. 



both alike depend on the divine will, but in the mode of 
their dependence, because in these two cases the divine 
will is simply effected and accomplished in different 
ways, and in virtue of distinct laws. One of these two 
modes is called, and is. natural; and the other is called, 
and is. supernatural. Men designate daily prodigies, 
natural, and those which occur at intervals, miraculous. 
Wherefore we see how great is the follv of those who 
deny the power of performing occasional prodigies to 
Him who works daily miracles. What is this but to 
deny to Him who does greater things, the power to do 
less things: or, what amounts to the same thing, to deny 
the occasional power of creation to Him who incessantly 
creates ? You, who deny the resurrection of Lazarus, 
because it is a miraculous work, why do you not refuse 
to believe other and greater prodigies ? Why not deny 
the existence of the sun. when it rises in the east, and 
of the beautiful and refulgent expanse of the heavens, 
with their eternal luminaries ? Why not deny the ex- 
istence of the turbulent and majestic oceans, and of their 
smooth and placid shores, where their stormy waves 
humbly die? Why not deny the existence of the sweet, 
breathing fields ; of forests, the retreat of silence, ma- 
jesty, and shade ; the mighty fall of immense cataracts, 
and the dazzling crystal of clearest fountains '.' But if 
you do not deny these things, what madness and palpa- 
ble inconsistency to reject as impossible, or even as diffi- 
cult, the resurrection of a man! Whether we view what 
surrounds us, or examine into our interior life, all that 
we behold, within us as well as around us. is miracu- 
lous. 

It follows from the above, that the distinction on 
the one side, between the natural and the supernatural, 



LIBERALISM, AXD SOCIALISM. 



81 



and on the other, between the ordinary phenomena of 
the natural and supernatural order and miraculous facts, 
neither supposes, nor can suppose, any rivalry or hidden 
antagonism between that which exists by the will of God 
and that which has a natural existence, because God is 
the author, preserver, and sovereign director of all 
things. 

All these distinctions, beyond their dogmatic limits, 
have resulted in what we see — the deification of the 
material, and the absolute and radical negation of Provi- 
dence and grace. 

Finally, to resume the thread of this argument : Provi- 
dence is a universal grace, in virtue of which all things 
are maintained and governed according to the divine 
counsel, as grace is a special providence, by which God 
takes care of man. The dogmas of Providence and of 
grace reveal to us the existence of a supernatural world, 
where we find the reason and cause of all that we see. 
Without the light which we receive from this direction, 
all is darkness ; without the explanation herein found, 
all is inexplicable ; without this solution and this light, 
all is phenomenal, ephemeral, and contingent, all things 
are as smoke that melts away, as phantasms that vanish, 
shadows that disappear, and dreams that have no reality. 
We find the supernatural above us, around us, and within 
us. It surrounds the natural, and penetrates it every- 
where. 

The knowledge of the supernatural is then the foun- 
dation of all the sciences, and especially so of the polit- 
ical and moral sciences. It is useless to attempt to 
explain the existence of man without grace, or of so- 
ciety without Providence; for, deprived of these, society 

8* 



82 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



and man would remain an unfathomable mystery to 
mankind. 

The importance of this demonstration, and its trans- 
cendent height as a stand-point, will be better seen far- 
ther on, when we shall sketch the sad and lamentable 
picture of our wanderings and our errors; and we shall 
find them all to arise, as from a fountain-head, from the 
negation of the Catholic supernaturalism. In this con- 
nection I may add, that the constant and supernatural 
action of God upon society and upon man, is the wide 
and secure basis on which the edifice of Catholic doc- 
trine rests; and that, deprived of this fundamental prin- 
ciple, this great edifice, in which the human race has free 
movement, falls leveled to the earth. 



CHAPTER VII. 

That the Catholic Church has triumphed over society, notwith- 
standing the same obstacles, and by the same supernatural 
means which rendered our Lord Jesus Christ victorious over 
the world. 

The Catholic Church, as a religious institution, has 
exercised the same influence in society that Catholicism, 
as a doctrine, has exercised in the world; the same that 
our Lord Jesus Christ has exercised in man. And the 
reason is this: that our Lord Jesus Christ, his doctrine 
and his Church, are in reality only three different mani- 
festations of the same thing ; that is, the divine action 
supernaturally and simultaneously working in man and 
in all his faculties, in society and in all its institutions, 
our Lord Jesus Christ, Catholicism, and the Catholic 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



83 



Church, are the same word — the word of God perpetu- 
ally resounding from the heavens. 

His word has had the same obstacles to overcome, 
and has triumphed by the same means, in its various 
incarnations. The prophets of Israel had announced 
the coming of the Lord in the fullness of time; they 
had written his life; they had sighed over his awful 
sorrows ; they had described his labors ; they had 
counted, one by one, the drops which made up the ocean 
of his tears ; they had seen him reviled, and in deepest 
anguish ; they had beheld his passion and death. In 
spite of all this the people of Israel did not know him 
when he came, and accomplished all the prophecies with- 
out remembering the prophets. The life of our Lord 
was most holy ; he alone had dared to utter before men 
those words, either stupidly blasphemous or ineffably 
divine, "which of you will convince me of sin?" Not- 
withstanding these words, never before or since pro- 
nounced by man, the world knew him not, and covered 
him with reproach. His doctrine was wonderful and 
true; so much so that it rendered all things fragrant 
with its great sweetness, and irradiated them with its 
serene splendor. Each word that fell so gently from 
his sacred lips was an astonishing revelation ; each rev- 
elation contained a divine truth, and each truth was 
fraught with hope and consolation. And yet the peo- 
ple of Israel shut their eyes to the light, and closed 
their hearts against these extraordinary consolations 
and sublime hopes. He performed miracles never be- 
fore witnessed nor heard of ; and yet they avoided him 
with horror, like one infected with leprosy, or as if he 
bore a curse set upon his brow by the divine anger and 
by men and nations. Even one of his disciples whom 



84 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



he tenderly loved heeded not his imploring and caressing 
accents, and fell from the height of the apostolate into 
the abyss of treason. 

From the beginning of time the Church of Jesus 
Christ was announced by great prophets, and repre- 
sented by symbols and figures. In laying her immortal 
foundations and forming her divine hierarchy upon a 
superhuman model, her divine Author made known her 
future history to his Apostles. He announced to them 
her great tribulations and unexampled persecutions, and 
they beheld the bloody procession of her confessors and 
martyrs. He foretold that the powers of the world and 
of hell would combine to form horrible and sacrilegious 
alliances against her, and how, by the power of grace, 
she should triumph over all their machinations. His 
divine vision penetrated through the prolongation of 
ages, and he predicted the end of all things, the immor- 
tality of the Church, and her transformation into the 
celestial Jerusalem, clothed in light, glittering with 
jewels, filled with glory, and diffusing the sweetest fra- 
grance. And yet the world, which has beheld the 
Church always persecuted and always triumphant; which 
could number and has numbered her victories by her 
tribulations, furnishes her continually the occasions of 
new victories by subjecting her to new trials, thus 
blindly fulfilling the great prophecy, even while it for- 
gets alike the prophecy and the prophet. The Church 
is perfect and most holy, as her divine Founder was 
perfect and most holy. She likewise, and she alone, 
has been able to pronounce before the world that word, 
never before heard, "who shall convince me of error, 
who shall convince me of sin?" And in spite of this as- 
tonishing word, the world contradicts and pursues her 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



85 



with unceasing contumely. Her doctrine is marvelous 
and true, because it is the teaching of the great Master 
of all truth, who is the great source of all wonders; 
and yet the world seeks for knowledge in the schools of 
error, and gives an attentive ear to the vain eloquence 
of shameless sophists and obscure impostors. The 
Church has received from her divine Founder the power 
of working miracles, and performs them, being herself a 
perpetual miracle; and yet the world treats this as a 
vain and shameful superstition, and she is held up as an 
object of scorn to men and nations. Her own children, 
so tenderly loved, have raised their sacrilegious hands 
against this most tender mother, have abandoned the 
sacred home that protected their infancy, and sought in 
new families and in new homes disgraceful pleasures 
and unchaste loves. In this way the Church follows the 
predicted path of her dolorous passion, unknown to the 
world and disowned by heresiarchs. 

And, what is singular and admirable in this, and in 
perfect imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that the 
Church does not suffer tribulations because the world has 
forgotten the prodigies she works, the life she lives, the 
truths she teaches, and the invincible testimonies that 
prove the divinity of her mission ; but, on the contrary, 
she is persecuted on account of these invincible testi- 
monies, on account of the truths she teaches, the sanc- 
tity of her life, and the miracles she performs. Sup- 
press these but for a moment, and you will put an end 
at one blow and at once to all these tribulations, tears, 
misfortunes, and privations. 

The mystery of her persecutions lies in the truths 
which she proclaims; the mystery of her victories is 
found in the supernatural force which assists her ; and 



86 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



these two things united explain both her triumphs and 
her afflictions. 

The supernatural strength of grace is perpetually 
communicated to the faithful through the ministry of 
the priests and through the channel of the sacraments; 
and this supernatural strength, imparted in this way to 
the faithful, who are at the same time members of a civil 
society and of the Church, is what has produced the 
wonderful difference between ancient and Catholic soci- 
eties, even in a political and social aspect. All things 
carefully considered, there is no other difference between 
these societies than that the former is composed of 
pagans, and the latter of Christians; that in pagan 
society men. are moved by natural impulses, while in the 
Christian society men have subdued more or less their 
own nature, and obey more or less perfectly the super- 
natural and divine impulsion of grace. This serves to 
explain the difference between the political and social 
institutions of the ancients, and those that have arisen, 
almost spontaneously, among the moderns; for institu- 
tions are the social expression of ideas common to all ; 
these ideas are the collective result of individual thought, 
and this thought is the intellectual manifestation of the 
mode of being and feeling of man; but the pagan and 
the Catholic man have ceased to be and to feel in the 
same way; one representing humanity fallen and disin- 
herited, the other humanity redeemed. Ancient and 
modern institutions are the expression of two different 
societies only because they represent two different human- 
ities. For this reason, when Catholic societies prevari- 
cate and fall, it happens that paganism immediately 
gains a footing in them; and we behold ideas, customs, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



87 



institutions, and the entire society relapsing into pagan- 
ism. 

If we abstract for a moment from the supernatual 
and invisible force of Catholicism, whose action has 
slowly and silently transformed the visible and natural 
by means of its mysterious and secret operation, all be- 
comes confused. The visible and the invisible, the nat- 
ural and the supernatural are alike involved in obscu- 
rity; and all our explanations become false hypotheses 
which explain nothing, and are themselves inexplica- 
ble. 

There is no spectacle more melancholy than that of a 
man of enlightened mind, who makes the impossible and 
absurd attempt to explain things visible by things visi- 
ble, and the natural by the natural; for as all things 
visible and natural are in their quality of being such 
identical, it would be as absurd as to explain the exist- 
ence of any fact by the fact itself, or to explain any- 
thing by the thing itself. Into this very grave error a 
man of eminent and great acquirements has fallen, whose 
writings it is impossible to read without a sentiment of 
profound respect, whose discourses inspire high admira- 
tion, and whose personal character places him still higher 
than even his writings, his discourses, or his talents. 
Mr. Guizot surpasses all contemporary writers in the 
calm view that he takes of the most intricate questions. 
His judgment, generally speaking, is true and impartial. 
He possesses a clear diction, a temperate style, which, 
in the embellishments of language, is severely modest. 
Even his great eloquence is inferior to, and controlled 
by, his reason. However elevated a question may be, 
whenever Mr. Guizot handles it he always proves him- 
self superior to the question. When he describes the 



88 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



phenomena that he sees, it never seems as if he described 
them, but rather as if he produced them. If he dis- 
cusses party questions, he points out their relative pro- 
portions of truth and error with so delicate a discrimin- 
ation that it does not seem as if he so decided, because 
of their merits and defects, but rather that these merits 
and defects were the result of his arrangement. He 
usually debates as if he instructed, and when he in- 
structs he seems by nature to be invested with a supe- 
rior authority. If he casually speaks of religion, his 
language is solemn, formal, and austere; and were it 
permitted in the present age to express a sentiment of 
veneration, he would be reverential. He concedes to it 
a great influence in the work of social restoration, as 
becomes such a man in speaking of so great an insti- 
tution. Although it cannot be discovered that he con- 
siders religion as the queen and mistress of all other 
institutions, it may be affirmed that it is at all events in 
his eyes as an amnestied sovereign, who, even in the 
days of her utmost power, still retains the marks of 
past servitude. The distinguishing characteristic of Mr. 
Guizot is, that he sees well all that he observes, and 
that he sees whatever is visible, and considers each thing 
by itself and separately. The weak point of his mind 
is not to perceive that these visible things, although dis- 
tinct, combine to form a harmonious, hierarchical, and 
united body, animated by an invisible force. His work, 
in which he makes an exposition of European civiliza- 
tion, displays his eminent characteristic and great defect 
more than any of his other writings. Mr. Guizot has 
seen, in this complex and prolific civilization, all that 
was to be seen, except this civilization itself. He who 
wishes to discover the numerous and various elements 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 89 

which compose it will find them in his work ; but if he 
wishes to find the powerful unity which constitutes that 
civilization, the principle of life which freely circulates 
through the healthy members of this robust and vigor- 
ous social body, he will not find it, because it is not 
there. Mr. Guizot has perfectly investigated all the 
visible elements of civilization, and has analyzed all 
that they contain that is visible. He has also care- 
fully examined those elements which contain nothing 
that falls within the jurisdiction of the senses. But 
this is not sufficient. There exists yet another element, 
which is at the same time visible and invisible ; and this 
element is the Church. The Church influences society 
in a manner analogous to the other political and social 
elements, but also in a manner peculiarly her own. 
Considered as an institution born in time, and made 
local in space, her influence was visible and limited, like 
that of other institutions under similar conditions. Con- 
sidered as a divine institution, she had within herself an 
immense supernatural strength, which was neither sub- 
jected to the laws of time nor to those of space, but 
exerted a silent, secret, and supernatural influence that 
was pre-eminent and everywhere felt. To such a degree 
is this true that, amid the confusion of all the social 
elements which rendered this epoch so critical, the Church 
imparted to them all a portion of that which was pecu- 
liar to herself, while she alone remained intact, and 
always preserved her absolute identity. Placed in con- 
tact with her, the Roman society, without ceasing to be 
Roman, became that which it had never been; it became 
Catholic. And so of the Germanic nations. Political 
and social institutions, without losing that which was 
peculiarly their own, received that which was foreign to 

9 



90 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



them — the Catholic nature. And Catholicism was not 
a vain form, because it gave no form to any institution, 
but was, on the contrary, something intimate and essen- 
tial, and for this reason imparted to them all something 
profound and intimate. Catholicism does not disturb 
forms, but it changes the substance of things; and at 
the same time that it leaves existing forms undisturbed 
and changes things in their essence, it receives indiffer- 
ently from society its various forms. For example, the 
Catholic Church was feudal, as feudalism was Catholic; 
but the Church did not receive the equivalent of what 
she gave, as she received that which was purely exterior 
and non-essential, while she imparted something interior 
and intimate, which was to remain as essential. 

It follows from this that in the common mass of Euro- 
pean civilization, which, like all other civilizations, and 
in a greater measure than others, is composed of unity 
and variety, all the other elements combined and united 
only give it what it possesses of a diverse or varied 
character; while to the Church, and to the Church alone, 
it is indebted for its unity. But in its unity dwells its 
very essence, and that from which every institution 
derives what is most essential to it — its name. Euro- 
pean civilization was not called German or Roman, ab- 
solute or feudal, but was called, and it calls itself, Cath- 
olic civilization. 

Catholicism is not then merely what Mr. Guizot sup- 
poses, one among the many elements which compose 
this admirable civilization; it is more than this — much 
more; it is this civilization itself. How strange! Mr. 
Guizot sees all that is transient in time and circum- 
scribed in space; and he fails to perceive that which is 
neither limited by time nor space. He sees that which 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



91 



is here, that which is there, and that which is more 
remote ; but he does not see that which is everywhere. 
He sees the members which form an organized and liv- 
ing body, but he does not recognize the life which ani- 
mates these members. 

If we reject, even for a moment, the divine virtue 
and the supernatural force which is in the Church, and 
consider her simply as a human institution, which is 
expanded and extended by purely human and nat- 
ural means : in this case we must concede that Mr. 
Guizot is right. For, according to this hypothesis, the 
influence that the Church exercises by her doctrine can- 
not go beyond the natural limits that his sovereign 
reason assigns to it. But the difficulty still remains, 
because it is an evident fact that the Church has gone 
beyond these limits. Therefore an evident contradiction 
exists between history, which shows that this influence 
does go beyond these limits, and reason, which teaches 
that it cannot do so ; a contradiction which must neces- 
sarily be resolved by a higher formula, capable of pro- 
ducing an entire reconciliation, which will harmonize 
facts with their causes and reason with history. 

The principle expressed by this formula must necessa- 
rily be outside of history and of reason, outside of the 
natural and the visible. It is found in the invisible, 
supernatural, and divine element of the holy Catholic 
Church. It is this divine, supernatural, and impalpable 
power which has conquered the world, has overcome the 
most invincible obstacles, has subdued rebellious minds 
and proud hearts, and has elevated the Church above 
human vicissitudes, and has secured her sway over 
nations. 



92 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, ETC. 



They who do not consider the supernatural and 
divine virtue inherent in the Church, will never under- 
stand her influence, nor her victories, nor her tribula- 
tions. Nor will they who fail to comprehend this ever 
be able to understand that which is spiritual, essential, 
and profound in European civilization, 



BOOK II. 



PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS IN REGARD TO ORDER IN 
GENERAL. 



CHAPTER I. 

Of free will in man. 

( Aside from the action of God, there is nothing but 
the action of man ; and, aside from Divine Providence, 
there is nothing but human liberty. The combination 
of this freedom with this providence forms the rich and 
varied web of history. 

The free will of man is the master-piece of creation, 
and the most extraordinary, if it were permitted so to 
speak, of the divine wonders. In relation to it, all 
things are invariably ordained, and in such a way that 
the creation would be unintelligible without man, and 
man deprived of free will would be an unfathomable 
mystery. His liberty explains man, and is at the same 
time the interpretation of all things ; yet who can ex- 
plain this most high, inviolable and holy, freedom — so 
high, inviolable and holy, that He who bestowed it can- 
not take it away — and which is able to resist and van- 
quish Him who gave it, opposing an invincible resistance 
and obtaining an overwhelming victory? AYho can ex- 
plain in what way, notwithstanding this victory of man 
over God, God remains the conqueror and man the con- 
quered ; while the victory of man is a real victory, and 

9* (93) 



94 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM. 



the defeat of God a real defeat? What can be the 
nature of this victory, which is necessarily followed by 
the defeat of the victor ; and what can be the nature of 
the defeat which terminates in the elevation of the con- 
quered*: What is the meaning of paradise as the reward 
of defeat, and of hell as the punishment of victory? If 
in my defeat is my reward, why reject that which saves 
me ; and if my condemnation is in my victory, why 
desire that which condemns me ? 

These questions have occupied the minds of all the 
great doctors of past ages. The petulant sophists of 
to-day affect to despise them, and yet they cannot even 
lift from the ground the formidable weapons which 
these holy doctors, in Catholic ages, easily and humbly 
wielded. In the present age, it is considered an inex- 
cusable folly to examine with humility, and aided by 
grace, the high designs of God in his profound mys- 
teries ; as if man could comprehend anything without 
an investigation of these profound and high designs. 
All the great questions upon God are now considered 
as idle and sterile ; as if it were possible to study God, 
who is intelligence and truth, without acquiring truth 
and intelligence. 

Regarding the tremendous question which is the sub- 
ject of this chapter, and which I shall endeavor to con- 
fine within as narrow limits as possible, I affirm, that 
the opinion generally entertained respecting free will is 
in every respect false. Free will does not consist, as is 
commonly supposed, in the power of choice between 
good and evil, which importune man with contrary soli- 
citations. If free will consisted in this faculty, the fol- 
lowing consequences would necessarily result — the one 
relative to man, and the other relative to God. and both 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



95 



evidently absurd. The consequence respecting man 
would be, that the higher the degree of excellence he 
attained, the less free he would become, as he could not 
advance toward perfection without becoming subjected 
to the influence of good ; and he could not yield to the 
sway of truth without removing himself from the rule 
of evil. He must necessarily remove himself from under 
the sway of the one, in the same degree that he subjects 
himself to the other ; and as this must alter, more or less, 
according to the measure of his perfection, the equilib- 
rium between these two contrary influences, his free- 
dom, that is, his power of choice, must therefore be 
diminished to the same extent that this equilibrium is 
disturbed. If we place the highest perfection of man 
in the annihilation of one of these opposing elements, 
and take it for granted that perfect freedom consists in 
the power of choosing between these antagonistic solici- 
tations, it is evident that, between the perfection and 
the freedom of man, there is a patent contradiction and 
an absolute incompatibility. The absurdity of this de- 
duction consists in this, that man being free, and at the 
same time aiming at perfection, he cannot preserve his 
freedom without renouncing perfection, neither can he 
become perfect without losing his liberty. 
/ As relates to God, the consequence of this hypothe- 
sis would be this, that God, not being subject in his na- 
ture to contradictory solicitations, would not be free, if 
freedom consisted in the full power to choose between 
opposing solicitations; and if, according to this supposi- 
tion, he must have the power to choose between good 
and evil, between sanctity and sin, in order to be free, 
then there exists, between the nature of God and liberty 
thus defined, a radical contradiction and an absolute 



96 



ESSAY 02s CATHOLICISM. 



incompatibility. And. as it would be an absurdity to 
suppose, on the one side, that God cannot be free if he 
is God, and that he cannot be God if he is free; and on 
the other, that man cannot attain perfection without 
losing his liberty, nor be free without renouncing per- 
fection, it follows that the idea of liberty that we have 
just examined is altogether false, contradictory, and 
absurd. 

The error that we have just exposed consists in placing 
freedom in the faculty of choice, when it really rests in 
the faculty of will, which supposes the faculty of under- 
standing. Every bein£ endowed with understanding and 
will is free, and his liberty is not a distinct thing from 
his will and his understanding, but the two united. 
When we affirm of a being that he has will and under- 
standing, and of another being that he is free, we assert 
with regard to both the same thing expressed in two 
different ways. 

If liberty consists in the faculties of will and under- 
standing, then perfect liberty consists in a perfect will 
and understanding. These are the attributes of God 
alone, from which it follows, as a necessary inference, 
that God alone is perfectly free. 

Again, if liberty consists in the faculties of under- 
standing and will, then man is free, because he is en- 
dowed with will and intelligence; but he is not perfectly 
free, as he is not endowed with an understanding and 
will infinite and perfect. 

The imperfection of his understanding is, that it is 
limited on the one hand, and on the other subject to 
error. The imperfection of his will is. that he does not 
desire all that he ought to wish for, and that he may be 
importuned and conquered by evil. From whence ic 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



97 



follows, that the imperfection of his liberty consists in 
his power of choosing evil and embracing error, that is 
to say, the imperfection of human liberty lies in pre- 
cisely that faculty of choice which, according to the 
vulgar opinion, constitutes its absolute perfection. 

Man at his creation knew good, and because he per- 
ceived it he sought it, and because he sought it he prac- 
ticed it ; and in the possession of that good which he 
sought with his will and understanding, he was free. 
That this is the signification of Christian liberty, we 
clearly see in the following words: "Cognoscetis veri- 
tatem et Veritas liber abit vos"* Between the liberty of 
man and that of God there is, then, no other difference 
than that which exists between anything that can un- 
dergo diminution and loss, and that which cannot ; the 
same difference that must exist between that which is 
limited and that which is essentially infinite, 
v When the woman listened to the voice of the fallen 
angel, her will immediately began to be obscured and 
weakened; she ceased to rest on God, who had hitherto 
been her stay, and she experienced in consequence a 
speedy downfall. It was then that her freedom, which 
consisted in the exercise of will and understanding, was 
enfeebled. When she passed from the thought to the 
commission of sin, her understanding became obscured 
and her will weakened. The woman involved man in 
her ruin, and human liberty fell into a state of deep 
abasement. 

Some persons who confound the idea of liberty with 
that of absolute independence, ask why man became 
enslaved so soon as he fell under the power of the devil, 



* John, viii. 32, 



98 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



when it is at the same time affirmed that God created 
him free. To which we answer, that it cannot be as- 
serted of man, that he is a slave only because he does 
not belong to himself ; in which case he would always 
be a slave, inasmuch as he never belongs to himself in 
an independent and sovereign manner. But, it is 
affirmed of man, that he is enslaved only when he falls 
under the power of an usurper, as it is said that he is 
free when he obeys only his legitimate master. He only 
is enslaved who is ruled by a tyrant, and there is no 
greater tyrant than he who exercises an usurped au- 
thority; nor is there any other liberty than that which 
consists in a willing obedience to legitimate rulers. 

Again, some persons cannot comprehend how the ac- 
tion of grace, through which we are redeemed and lib- 
erated, can be reconciled with this same liberty and v 
redemption. It appears to them that in this mysterious 
operation God is the sole agent, and man is passive. 
This is an entirely erroneous opinion, because it is neces- 
sary that God and man concur in this great mystery — 
God working and man co-operating. For this rea- 
son God does not usually impart more grace than is 
needed to assist the will. Fearful of oppressing it, he 
is contented with inviting it, with the most loving re- 
quest; w T hile man, when he receives the impressions of 
grace, does so with incomparable sweetness and com- 
placency ; and when the loving will of man, who listens 
to this invitation, is joined to the loving will of God, 
who calling him rejoices, and rejoicing calls, then through 
this sweet concurrence of wills does the grace which was 
sufficient become efficacious. 

With regard to those who imagine liberty to rest in 
the absence of all solicitation which may affect the will 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



99 



of man, I shall only say that they inadvertently fall into 
one of these two great errors — either that of supposing 
a rational being to act without any motive whatever, 
or that an unreasoning being can be free. 

If the above is true, it is certain that the faculty of 
choice bestowed upon man, far from constituting a ne- 
cessary condition of freedom, endangers liberty, since 
through it arises the possibility of a renunciation of 
good, and of falling into error, of a denial of God, and 
of a subjection to tyranny. All the efforts of man, with 
the assistance of grace, should be directed to the keep- 
ing of this faculty under, so that he may even lose it, if 
possible, by inaction. He alone who loses it understands 
good, desires it, and performs it ; and he alone who 
does this is perfectly free ; and he alone who is free is 
perfect ; and only he who is perfect is happy. None of 
the blessed have this faculty of choosing between good 
and evil, neither God, nor his saints, nor the choirs of 
angels. 



CHAPTER II. 

Some objections respecting this dogma answered. 

If the faculty of choice does not constitute the per- 
fection, but endangers the exercise of free will in man ; 
if in this faculty originated man's prevarication and 
fall; if in it rests the mystery of sin, of condemnation, 
and death; how can we reconcile with the infinite good- 
ness of God this fatal gift, which is the source of our 
misfortunes and calamities? Shall we regard the hand 
that bestows it as compassionate or rigorous? If it is 



100 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



laid upon us in anger, why were we created ? Why in- 
flict upon us a burden so heavy, if this hand is merciful? 
Shall we call it just, or only strong? If it is just, what 
have we done previously to our creation to be thus pun- 
ished ? If it is simply strong, why are we not crushed 
and destroyed? If in using the gift we have received 
we have committed sin, who is the author of our sin? 
If we are lost on account of the transgressions which 
this faculty inclines us to commit, who is the cause of 
our condemnation and our punishment? great and 
incomprehensible being, whom we know not if we must 
bless or detest; shall we, with bitter sighs and ardent 
prayers, fall prostrate at thy feet like thy servant Job, 
or shall we attempt against thee the war of the Titans, 
and pile mount upon mount, Pelion upon Ossa? 
mysterious sphinx, we know not how to appease nor how 
to vanquish thee; nor do we know how to address thee. 
If as thou sayest thou art omniscient, tell us, we beseech 
thee, in which of thy sacred books thou hast inscribed 
thy name, that we may know how we must call upon 
thee ; for the titles that are given thee are contradictory 
like thyself. Those who are saved call thee God; those 
who are condemned call thee tyrant. 

This is the angry voice of the genius of pride and 
blasphemy. What an inconceivable madness and inex- 
plicable aberration for man, who is the work of God, to 
summon before his tribunal that same God who grants 
him the very tribunal on which he sits as arbiter, the 
reason with which he judges, and even the voice with 
which he calls upon God! Thus man falls from blas- 
phemy to blasphemy, from abyss to abyss. The blas- 
phemer who summons, constitutes himself the judge to 
condemn or absolve. But the man who absolves or con- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



101 



denms, in place of adoring God, blasphemes. Woe to 
the arrogant who interrogate him, and happy are the 
humble who adore him ! For he will come both to the 
one and to the other; to the one, as summoned, in the 
day of judgment, and to the other, as adored, in the 
day of adoration. He will respond to all who call upon 
him; to the ones in wrath, to the others in mercy. 

Let it not be said that this doctrine is an absurd- 
ity, involving the denial of the competency of human 
reason to understand the things of God, and thereby 
implicitly condemns the theologians and holy doctors, 
and even the very Church, that have in past ages so 
fully discussed and investigated these questions. What 
this doctrine denies is, the capacity of reason unen- 
lightened by faith to understand the truths of revela- 
tion and faith, in so far as they are supernatural. When 
we attempt to comprehend these mysteries unaided, we 
act in relation to God as judges against whose judgments 
there is no appeal. This supposition, whether its sentence 
is condemnatory or absolutory, is alike blasphemous. It 
is so, not so much on account of what is asserted or 
denied respecting God, as on account of what human 
reason implicitly affirms of itself; for whether it be con- 
demnation or absolution, it always affirms the same 
thing, namely, its own independence and sovereignty. 
When the most holy Church asserts or denies anything 
respecting God, it simply repeats what it has learned 
from God. When eminent theologians and pious doc- 
tors investigate the profound depths of the divine excel- 
lencies, it is always with a secret terror and assisted by 
faith. They do not suppose that they can discover mys- 
teries in God which are unknown to faith; but they 
unite the light of reason to the light of faith; so that 

10 



102 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



in this way they may take another aspect of these mar- 
vels and secrets. They do not contemplate God in order 
to discover new things in him, but that they may view 
the things, already known to faith, in a new light ; so 
that these two ways of knowing God are only two dif- 
ferent ways of adoring him. 

There is no mystery taught by faith, and proposed by 
the Church, that does not combine, by an admirable ar- 
rangement of God, two qualities commonly antagonistic — 
obscurity and evidence. The Catholic mysteries maybe 
compared to bodies that are both luminous and opaque; 
and in such a manner that their shadows can never be 
dissipated by their light, nor their light obscured by 
their shadows. They remain both perpetually obscure 
and perpetually luminous. While they diffuse their 
brightness over the world, they themselves remain im- 
pervious to light. They illuminate creation, yet nothing 
can throw light on them. They penetrate everywhere, 
and remain impenetrable. It appears an absurd thing 
to admit these mysteries, but it is more absurd to deny 
them ; because for those who embrace them, there is no 
other obscurity than their own; while for those who 
reject them, darkness rests over all things. Yet, not- 
withstanding, the blindness of men is so great that they 
would rather deny these mysteries than concede them. 
Light is intolerable to their eyes if it proceed from an 
obscure region. In the madness of their gigantic pride 
they condemn themselves to an eternal blindness, re- 
garding the clouds that enshroud a single mystery as 
more fatal than those which spread themselves over the 
entire horizon. 

It is easy to demonstrate what we have just asserted, 
without turning aside from the contemplation of those 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



103 



great questions which form the subject of this chapter. 
Let those who ask why this tremendous gift has been 
bestowed of choosing between good and evil, sanctity 
and sin, life and death, deny its existence but for a mo- 
ment, and in this very moment they render altogether 
impossible the separate creations of angels and men. If 
in this faculty of choice lies the imperfection of liberty, 
you have but to take away this power, and you remove 
the only obstacle to entire freedom ; and when this is 
effected, there would exist a simultaneous perfection of 
the will and the understanding. This perfection is in 
God, but if we likewise place it in the creature, God and 
the creature are then one and the same. All is God, or 
nothing is God; and in this way we fall into pantheism, 
or into atheism, which is the same thing expressed under 
another name. Imperfection is a condition so natural 
to the creature, and perfection is so natural to God, 
that we cannot deny either the one or the other without 
an incongruity of terms, a real contradiction, and an 
evident absurdity. To affirm of God that he is imper- 
fect, is to deny his existence ; to affirm of the creature 
that he is perfect, is to deny his existence also; from 
which we perceive that if this mystery is above reason, 
the denial of it is contrary to reason; and in rejecting 
one for the other, we abandon the obscure and accept 
the impossible. 

As the negations of rationalism are false, contradic- 
tory, and absurd, the affirmations of Catholicism are 
simple, natural, and logical. Catholicism affirms of 
God that he is absolutely perfect; and, of created be- 
ings, that they have a relative perfection and an abso- 
lute imperfection ; and that they are perfect and imper- 
fect in so excellent a manner that their absolute imper- 



104 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



fection, by which they are infinitely separated from 
God, constitutes their relative perfection, by which 
they perfectly fulfill their different functions, and in 
this way form the perfect harmony of the universe. 
Under the point of view we at present consider, the 
absolute perfection of God consists in his being sover- 
eignly free; that is to say, in having a perfect compre- 
hension of good, and in desiring it with a perfect will. 
Under this same point of view, the absolute imperfec- 
tion of all other intelligent and free beings consists in 
their not understanding or desiring good in such way 
that thev cannot understand evil and desire the evil 
which their mind conceives. Their relative perfection 
consists in this same absolute imperfection, by which on 
the one hand they differ from God in their nature, and 
on the other they can unite themselves to God, who is 
their end, by an effort of their own will, aided by grace. 

Intelligent and free beings are disposed in hierarchies, 
and consequently they are hierarchically imperfect. 
These beings resemble each other inasmuch as they are 
all imperfect; but they are distinguished one from the 
other as to the degree of imperfection, although they 
are all imperfect in the same manner. The angel only 
differs from man in that the imperfection which is 
common to them both is greater in the man and less 
in the angel, as is suitable to their different positions 
in the immense scale of existences. They were both, 
in the beginning, endowed by their Creator with the 
faculty of understanding and the power to will evil, 
and to perform that which they understood; and in this 
was their resemblance. But in the angelical nature this 
imperfection was brief in its duration, while in human 
nature it always exists; and in this are they dissimilar. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



105 



There was granted to the angel a brief and solemn mo- 
ment, in which he might choose between good and evil; 
and it was then that the angelical hosts divided. A 
portion of them inclined before the divine will, while 
the others tumultuously declared themselves rebels. 
This sudden and supreme resolution was followed by as 
great and sudden a fall. The rebellious angels were 
condemned, while the faithful were confirmed in grace. 

Man, not being a pure spirit like the angel, was weaker 
in understanding and will, and consequently received a 
more feeble and imperfect liberty; and this imperfection 
was to last during life. Herein we see the unspeakable 
excellence of the divine designs. God saw, before the 
beginning of things, the beauty and fitness of hierarchies, 
and therefore established them between free and intelli- 
gent existences. On the other hand he saw, from 
eternity, the beauty and fitness of a certain manner of 
equality among all his creatures, and therefore the 
sovereign artificer so adjusted all things as to unite 
this beauty of equality to the beauty of the hierarchy. 
In order to form this hierarchy, God made the exist- 
ences he had created unequal in their faculties ; and, in 
order to fulfill the law of equality, he required more of 
those to whom he gave more, and less of those to whom 
he gave less: and in such a manner, that those who had 
received the most were more strictly called to an ac- 
count, and those who had received the fewest gifts were 
held the least accountable. Because the natural excel- 
lence of the angel was so great, his fall was without 
hope or remedy, his punishment instantaneous, and his 
condemnation eternal. Because the natural goodness of 
man was less, when he fell he was raised again, and his 
prevarication was not without a remedy; therefore the 

10* 



106 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



sentence passed upon him will not be without appeal, 
nor will his condemnation be irremediable, until, through 
repeated acts of sin, his guilt reaches that point alone 
known to God, where the angelical and human prevari- 
cation have an equal weight in the divine balance ; so 
that no man may say to God, why didst thou not create 
me angel? Nor may the angel say, why didst thou not 
make me man ? 

Lord, who is not terrified at the spectacle of thy 
justice? But what grandeur equals the greatness of 
thy mercy? What balance so even, as that thou bold- 
est in thy hand? What measure so true, as that with 
which thou metest out justice ? Who knowest as thou 
dost, numbers and their mysterious agreements? How 
admirably executed are thy prodigies ! How excel- 
lently arranged are all things which thou hast estab- 
lished, and how harmoniously beautiful in their arrange- 
ment ! Lord, enlighten my understanding, that I 
may better comprehend something of thy designs from 
eternity, something of thy plans and their execution : 
because he who knows thee not, knows nothing; and he 
who understands thee, knows all things. 

If man may not ask of God, why didst thou not create 
me an angel, nor why didst thou not create me perfect, 
may he not at least say to Him, Lord, it would have 
been better for me if thou hadst not created me; why 
didst thou create me such as I am ? If thou hadst con- 
sulted me, I would never have consented to receive life 
with the power to lose it ; hell terrifies me more than 
nothingness. 

Man, left to himself, only falls into blasphemy. When 
he questions God, he blasphemes, unless the God who is 
to answer him teaches him how to inquire. When he 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



107 



asks for anything, he blasphemes, unless the same God 
who is to grant his request teaches him what to ask, 
and how to ask it. Man neither knew how to pray nor 
what to ask for, until God, made man, taught him the 
Our Father, so that he might commit it to memory like 
a child. 

What does man mean, when he says, it would be bet- 
ter for me never to have been born ? Did he by chance 
exist before he w T as created ? And what signifies his 
question, if, previous to his existence, he never existed? 
Man can form some idea of all that exists, even when it 
surpasses his reason, and therefore he can have some 
conception of all the mysteries ; but he cannot form 
any idea whatever of non-existence, of nothingness. 
He who commits suicide does not wish to blot himself 
out of existence; he only wishes, by existing in a differ- 
ent way, to end his suffering. Man, then, expresses no 
idea whatever when he says, why do I exist ? He can 
only express an idea when he asks, why am I what I 
am ? This question resolves itself into another — w T hy 
have I the power to lose myself? This is an absurd 
question, in whatever light you view it. In effect, if 
every created being is imperfect simply because he is a 
creature, and if the power to lose one's self constitutes 
the especial imperfection of man, he therefore who asks 
this question, asks in substance why he is a creature, 
or, what is its equivalent, why the creature is not the 
Creator, why man is not the God who created man ? 
Quod absurdum. 

And if this question simply means, why we are not 
saved in spite of the power to lose ourselves, the absurd- 
ity is still greater ; because, why should the power to 
lose one's self be given, if no one can be lost ? If man 



108 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



was to be saved in spite of everything, what would be 
the final use of life in time ? Why not, from the begin- 
ning, lead an immortal life in Paradise ? Reason can- 
not comprehend how salvation can be both necessary and 
future, since the future is essentially only compatible 
with the contingent, and that which by its very nature 
is necessary, is present. 

If man were destined to pass, without any transition, 
out of nothingness into eternity, and from the moment 
of his creation lead a glorified life, time, space, and the 
entire creation made for man, who is its king, would be 
annihilated. If his kingdom was not to be of this world, 
why create this world ? If it was not to be temporal, 
why does time exist ? If it was not to be local, why 
create space ? And, without time and space, why were 
things created in time and space ? We therefore see, in 
the suppositions we have admitted, that the contradic- 
tion between the power to lose one's self and the neces- 
sity of salvation, leads to the absurdity of suppressing, 
at one blow, the existence of time and space ; and this, 
in turn, logically involves the suppression of all things 
created with man, for man, and on account of man. 
Man cannot substitute a human for a divine idea, with- 
out causing the immediate destruction of the entire 
plan of creation, and being himself crushed beneath its 
gigantic ruins. 

Regarding this question under another aspect, we may 
affirm that, when man claims the absolute right to save 
himself, at the same time that he admits the power to 
lose himself, he falls into even a greater absurdity, if 
this is possible, than when he complains of Grod because 
He has given him the faculty to lose himself ; because if, 
under the latter assumption, he would become as God, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



109 



under the former he would assume the privileges of 
divinity while being man. 

Finally, if we attentively consider this grave subject, 
we shall clearly see, that it is incompatible with the 
divine excellence to save either angel or man, without 
anterior merit on their part. All in God is reasonable; 
his justice as his goodness, and his goodness as his 
mercy: since, if he is infinitely just, and good, and mer- 
ciful, he is likewise infinitely reasonable. Consequently 
we cannot attribute to God, without blasphemy, even 
one single act of goodness, mercy, or justice, which is 
not founded on sovereign reason, as the only source of 
true goodness, mercy, or justice. Goodness without 
reason is weakness ; mercy without reason is conde- 
scension ; and justice not based on reason is revenge — 
for God is good, merciful, and just, and not weak, con- 
descending, or vindictive. From this it follows, that 
when we pray for salvation on account of the infinite 
goodness of God, without regard to anterior merit, oui 
prayers are unreasonable ; since we ask for an action 
on the part of God without motive, and an effect without 
a cause. Strange inconsistency ! Man asks of God, in 
virtue of His infinite goodness, what He daily condemns 
in man, whose reason is limited : and he calls that a just 
and merciful action in heaven, which on earth he would 
regard as the caprice of a foolish woman or the extrav- 
agance of a tyrant. 

As regards hell, its existence is in all respects neces- 
sary, in order to preserve the perfect equilibrium in 
which God has placed all things; because God exists in 
a substantial manner in the divine perfections. Hell 
considered as a punishment, and heaven as a reward, 
form a perfect equipoise ; the power of man to lose him- 



110 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM, 



self can alone balance his power to save himself, and 
that the justice and mercy of God be alike infinite, it is 
necessary that hell and heaven should simultaneously 
exist, the one as the term of the former, the other of 
the latter. Heaven supposes hell, and in such a man- 
ner that it can neither be explained nor conceived with- 
out it. These two things are correlative in the same 
manner that a consequence supposes its principle and a 
principle its consequence; and, as he who affirms the 
consequence contained in its principle and the principle 
which contains the consequence, in reality asserts the 
same thing, and not two different things; so he who 
asserts the existence of hell implies that there is a 
heaven; and he who affirms that there is a heaven 
implies the existence of hell. He does not in reality 
affirm two different things, but one and the same 
thing. There is then a logical necessity to admit 
these two affirmations, or to deny them both, as abso- 
lute negations. But before denying these affirmations, 
let us examine what would be denied by their nega- 
tion. It would involve the denial of any power in man 
either to lose or save himself, and likewise the denial 
of the infinite justice and mercy of God. To these 
personal negations, if we may so style them, may be 
added another real negation, namely, the denial of vir- 
tue and vice, of good and evil, of reward and punish- 
ment; and as these negations deny all the laws of the 
moral world, so the negation of hell logically involves 
a similar denial. Nor can it be said that man may save 
himself without going to heaven, or lose himself without 
going to hell; because to go neither to heaven nor to 
hell is neither reward nor punishment, perdition nor 
salvation. God must either possess justice and mercy 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



Hi 



in an infinite degree, or not at all; and infinitude re- 
quires a heaven for term on one side, and a hell for 
term on the other. Any other result would make these 
attributes useless, which would be equivalent to their 
non-existence. 

If it is conceded that this intricate demonstration 
proves, on the one hand, that the power to save one's self 
necessarily implies the power to lose one's self, and, on 
the other hand, that heaven necessarily supposes hell, so 
it also follows that he who blasphemes against God be- 
cause he has made hell, likewise blasphemes against him 
because he has made heaven. And he who asks to be 
deprived of the power to lose himself, likewise asks to 
be deprived of the power to save himself. 



CHAPTER III. 

Manicheism— Manicheism of Proudhon. 

Whatever explanation may be given of free will in 
man, it will undoubtedly always remain one of our great- 
est and most fearful mysteries; and we must confess 
that the faculty granted to man to draw evil out of good, 
disorder out of order, and to disturb, even though it be 
accidentally, the perfect adjustment with which God 
has arranged all things, is a tremendous faculty. If we 
consider this power in itself, and not relatively to that 
which limits and controls it, it is almost inconceivable. 
The free will given to man is a power so high and trans- 
cendent, that it would rather seem to be an abdication 



112 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



on the part of God than a grace conferred. Behold the 
evil it causes in the world. 

If we watch the flow, through the prolongation of ages, 
of the turbid and impure waters of that ocean which 
bears humanity onward, we shall behold among the 
leaders of iniquity Adam the rebel, and then Cain the 
fratricide; and, succeeding them, the multitude of peo- 
ple who reject God and his law; such as the impious, 
the impure, the incestuous, and adulterers. There are 
indeed a few worshipers of God and his glory ; but they 
soon forget his greatness and splendor, and they alto- 
gether tumultuously embark in that large vessel which 
has no pilot. The turbulent currents of that vast ocean 
whirl this excited crowd onward, while they know not 
whither they go, nor from whence they come, nor what 
is the name of the vessel that bears them, nor what wind 
impels them forward. If from time to time a sad, pro- 
phetic voice is heard, crying woe to the navigators ! woe 
to the vessel ! the ship neither arrests her course, nor 
do the crew listen, while the wind increases, and the 
boat commences to burst asunder. Then this frantic 
crew indulge in frightful orgies, up to that last dread 
moment when all suddenly ceases; the splendid ban- 
quets, frenzied laughter, lewd dances, insensate clamor, 
the splitting of the vessel, and the roar of the hurricane 
cease; the ocean overwhelms all, silence reigns over the 
waters, and the wrath of God over the silent waters. 

God again constructs, and the new divine work is 
again destroyed by human liberty. A son is born to 
Noah, who puts his father to shame ; he curses his son, 
and with him all his race, which will continue to bear 
this curse even to the fullness of time. After the deluge 
recommences the antediluvian disorder; and the sons of 



LIBERALISM, AN D SOCIALISM. 



113 



God again contend with the sons of men. Here, the 
divine city is built, and there, the city of the world. 
The one worships Providence, and the other liberty ; 
and liberty and Providence, God and man, renew the 
gigantic contest, whose great vicissitudes form the per- 
petual subject of history. The people of God are 
everywhere conquered, until even his incommunicable 
and holy name falls into profound oblivion; and men, 
in the frenzy of their victory, unite to erect a tower 
which shall touch the clouds. Fire from heaven de- 
scends upon this tower erected by pride, and God in his 
wrath confounds the languages of the nations, who dis- 
perse throughout the circumference of the earth, increase 
and multiply, and fill with inhabitants every zone and 
country. Then arise great and populous cities, gigantic 
empires full of pride and pomp, and brutal and ferocious 
hordes wander in insolent idleness through immense 
forests and incommensurable deserts. The world is 
consumed by discord, and stupefied with the frightful 
din of war. Empires fall upon empires, cities upon 
cities, nations upon nations, races upon races, until the 
earth becomes one scene of universal calamity and con- 
flagration. The abomination of desolation is spread 
over the world. Where then is God? Why does he 
thus abandon the world, and permit human liberty 
everywhere to triumph? Why does he allow such uni- 
versal rebellion and tumult, the erection of idols, and 
this great ravage and accumulated ruin? 

One day God called unto him a just man, and said to 
him, I will make thy posterity as numerous as the sand 
on the sea-shore and as the stars of heaven; and out 
of this favored race shall be born the Saviour of man- 
kind. I myself will conduct this people by my provi- 

11 



114 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



dence; and that they may not fall, I will give them in 
charge to my angels. I will perform many miracles for 
them, which shall testify my omnipotence before the 
nations. And the works of God were in conformity 
with his words. His people were enslaved, and he raised 
them up deliverers ; they were strangers in a strange 
land, when he brought them forth from Egypt and gave 
them a home and country. They suffered hunger, and 
he gave them great plenty; they were thirsty, and the 
waters gushed forth from the rocks, obedient to his 
voice. Multitudes of enemies assailed them, and the 
wrath of God dissipated their numbers like a cloud. 
Weeping, they hung their melodious harps on the wil- 
lows of Babylon; and he redeemed them from this sad 
captivity, and they again beheld Jerusalem the holy, 
predestined and beautiful. He gave them incorruptible 
judges, who ruled them with peace and justice, and kings 
who feared God, and were reputed prudent, good, and 
wise. He sent them prophets, who unveiled his high 
designs, and showed them things present and future. 
Yet this carnal and cruel people forgot his miracles, re- 
jected his counsels, abandoned his temple, broke forth 
into blasphemies, fell into idolatry, outraged his incom- 
municable name, beheaded his holy prophets, and excited 
tumults and revolts. 

In the mean time the seventy prophetical weeks of 
Daniel were accomplished; and he who was to come 
came; sent by the Father for the redemption of the 
world and the consolation of nations. This people, 
seeing him so poor, meek, and humble, despised his hu- 
mility, outraged his poverty, scorned his gentleness, 
and were scandalized. They clothed him with garments 
of derision, and, secretly impelled by the demons of hell, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



115 



they made him drain even to the last dregs of ignominy, 
on the cross, after having loaded him with insult in the 
hall of judgment. 

Being crucified by the Jews, the Son of God called 
the gentiles unto him, and they came. Yet after his 
coming, as before he came, the world followed the path 
of perdition, and remained seated in the shades of 
death. His most holy Church inherited from him the 
privilege of suffering persecution and outrage, and was 
insulted and persecuted by nations, kings, and emperors. 
Out of her own bosom came forth those great heresies 
which encircled her cradle, like monsters seeking to de- 
vour her. It is in vain that they are crushed by the 
divine Hercules. The tremendous battle between the 
divine and human Hercules, between God and man, is 
renewed. The rage of the servants of evil equals the 
ardor of the people of God, and success alternates. 
The battle-field is so vast that on the continents it 
stretches from sea to sea, and on the sea extends from 
continent to continent, until it covers the world from 
pole to pole. The conquering hosts of Europe are con- 
quered in Asia, and the vanquished in Africa triumph 
in America. There is no man whatever, whether he 
knows it or not, who is not enlisted in this furious com- 
bat; no one who has not an active share in the respons- 
ibility of defeat or victory. All are alike engaged in 
this struggle; the galley slave in his chains, and the 
king upon his throne, the poor and the rich, the healthy 
and the sick, the wise and the foolish, the captive and 
the free, the old and the young, the civilized and the 
savage. Every word that is uttered is inspired either 
by the w^orld or by God, and forcibly proclaims, either 
implicitly or explicitly, but always distinctly, either the 



116 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



glory of the one or the triumph of the other. All are 
constrained to enlist in this strange army, in which no 
substitutes nor voluntary enlistments are allowed, nor 
any exception made for old age. None among this 
soldiery may say, I am the son of a poor widow, or 
the mother of a paralytic, or the wife of a cripple. All 
mankind alike belong to this army. 

Nor is any one permitted to say that he is not dis- 
posed to combat; for, in the act of saying so, he already 
combats; and it is easy to perceive to which side he in- 
clines; because by this very declaration he plainly be- 
trays his inclinations. Nor can any one declare that 
he is neutral, because, if he wishes to be so, he is 
already enlisted; nor can he reiterate that he will con- 
tinue indifferent, for by these very words he clearly indi- 
cates which side he embraces. Let no one seek to avoid 
the perils of this war, for he will do so in vain. This 
war extends throughout space, and will last to the end 
of time. Only in eternity, the home of the just, can 
rest be found; because then alone the combat ceases. 
Nor will the gates of heaven open to receive any who 
cannot show that they have suffered in this conflict. 
These portals are closed against all who do not here 
below bravely fight the battles of the Lord, and like him 
bear the cross. 

The contemplation of the spectacle which history 
presents to us, must inevitably lead the man who is not 
enlightened by faith to adopt one of the two systems of 
manicheism : either the ancient system, according to 
which there is a principle of good and also a principle of 
evil, and each of these principles is embodied in a god, 
and between these gods the only law is war; or the 
system of Proudhon, who affirms that in God is the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



117 



principle of evil, that in man is the principle of good, 
and that the human and divine powers are two potent 
rivals, the only duty of man being to conquer God, who 
is his enemy. 

These two systems of manicheism are naturally de- 
rived from the consideration of the perpetual warfare to 
which the world is condemned. The first is in greater 
conformity with ancient traditions, and the second bears 
a closer resemblance to the doctrines of modern times. 
However, it must be confessed that if we only regard 
the notorious fact of this gigantic contest, apart from 
the glimpses we have of the existence of a marvelous 
harmony between things human and divine, between the 
visible and invisible, and the created and uncreated, this 
fact may be amply explained by either of these two 
systems. 

The difficulty does not consist in explaining any fact, 
whatever it may be, considered in itself. There is no 
isolated fact which may not be viewed in this way, and 
sufficiently explained by a hundred different hypotheses. 
But the real difficulty is to satisfy the metaphysical con- 
ditions upon which every explanation must rest, and 
according to which it is necessary, that the explanation 
of any evident fact, in order to be admissible, should 
not render other manifest and evident facts inexplicable, 
or leave them unexplained. Now, either of the mani- 
chean systems explains that which by its nature implies 
a dualism, and a war supposes it; yet neither of them 
can explain that which by its nature is one: and reason 
even unenlightened by faith can fully prove, either 
that there is no God, or, if he exist, that he is one. 
Either of the manichean systems explains the war- 
fare that is waged, but neither of them can give an ex- 

11* 



118 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



plication of the final victory; because a definitive vic- 
tory of evil over good, or of good over evil, implies the 
entire suppression of the one or of the other, while that 
which has a real and necessary existence cannot be de- 
finitively suppressed. According to the principles of 
manicheism, therefore, the combat which seemed to be 
sufficiently explained remains inexplicable; because a 
combat is unintelligible where victory is forever impos- 
sible. 

If w r e pass from the investigation of the general ab- 
surdity of every manichean explanation to the especial 
inconsistency of the explanation of Proudhon, we shall 
clearly see that it implies every possible absurdity, 
and that there are even things in this explication un- 
worthy of the majesty of the absurd. In effect, when 
Mr. Proudhon calls evil good, and good evil, he is 
not guilty of an absurdity; for the absurd supposes 
greater genius; but this is mere buffoonery. The 
peculiar absurdity is not simply in making this asser- 
tion, but in having no object whatever in doing so. 
From the moment that it is affirmed that good and 
evil coexist in man and in God, locally and substan- 
tially, the question which consisted in establishing 
from whence proceeds evil, and from whence good, 
becomes useless. Man will attribute evil to God and 
good to himself, and God will assert that in him is all 
good, and in man evil. Therefore evil and good will 
exist everywhere and nowhere. The question will then 
reduce itself to this : which side will be victorious ? As 
this hypothesis makes no distinction between good and 
evil, it falls into the ridiculous puerility of contradicting 
the common sentiment of mankind. The absurdity 
which is peculiar to Mr. Proudhon is, that his dualism 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



119 



is a dualism of three parts, constituting an absolute 
unity; by which we see that it is rather a mathematical 
than a religious absurdity. The manichean dualism 
asserts that in God is the principle of evil, and in man 
that of good; but in man, wherein exists the principle 
of good, there are two powers : a faculty essentially in- 
stinctive, and another faculty essentially logical; by the 
first he is God, by the second he is man ; from which it 
follows that the two unities are divided into three, and 
this without their ceasing to be two; because, outside of 
man and of God, there exists neither substantial evil 
nor substantial good, no antagonism — there is nothing. 
We will now see how the two unities, which are three 
unities, are converted into one without ceasing to be two 
unities and three unities. Unity is in God; for besides 
that he is God, through the instinctive faculty which is 
also in man, he is man. Unity is also in man, because 
he is man by his logical faculty, and he is God by his 
instinctive faculty; and consequently man is both man 
and God. It results from all this, that dualism, without 
ceasing to be dualism, is threefold: that trinity, with- 
out ceasing to be threefold, is dualism; and that dual- 
ism and trinity, without ceasing to be what they are re- 
spectively, are unity; and that unity, which is unity 
without ceasing to be dualism and trinity, is in two 
parts. 

If the citizen Proudhon were to proclaim that he has 
a mission, which he does not ; and if he were able to 
prove that his mission is divine, which he cannot ; yet 
his theory, which we have just exposed, ought to be re- 
jected as absurd and impossible. The personal union 
of evil and good, considered as substantially existing, 
is impossible and absurd, because it involves an evident 



120 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



contradiction. In the diversity of persons and unity 
of essence, which constitute the triune and one God of 
the Christians, as in the distinction of two natures in 
the person of the Son made man, there is doubtless a 
profound obscurity, yet not a logical impossibility, as 
there is no contradiction in the terms. If it involves 
much that is obscure to the eye of reason, yet there is 
nothing essentially contradictory in affirming of three 
persons that they are one in substance; or in the asser- 
tion that three substances exist in one person. That 
which is radically impossible, because it is an evident 
absurdity and a palpable contradiction, is, after having 
asserted the substantial existence of good and evil, to 
assert that they substantially exist sustained by one 
and the same person. How admirable ! Man cannot 
fly from the obscurity of Catholicism without being en- 
veloped in still greater darkness; nor can he fly from 
that which baffles his reason without meeting that which 
is contradictory to it, and therefore a denial of reason. 

Let it not be supposed that the world adopts the 
views of rationalism in spite of its absurd contradic- 
tions and its profound obscurity; it adopts them on 
that very account. Reason adopts error wherever it 
can be found, like a doting mother, who follows the 
child of her love, the fruit of her womb, wherever this 
child may go, even though it be into the deepest abyss. 
Error will cause her death; but what matters it to the 
mother to die if she receive her death at the hands of 
her child? 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



121 



CHAPTER IV. 

How Catholicism explains the dogmas of Providence and of 
Liberty, without adopting the theory of a rivalry between 
God and man. 

In nothing does the incomparable beauty of Catholic 
solutions show itself so conspicuously as in its univer- 
sality, that incommunicable attribute of divine solutions. 
The moment we embrace a Catholic solution, all that 
was previously dark and obscure becomes clear, night 
becomes day, and order proceeds from chaos. In each 
of these explanations may be found that sovereign attri- 
bute and secret virtue which produces the great wonder 
of universal light. The only obscure point, amid the 
light thus diffused, is the mystery itself, from which pro- 
ceeds so much brightness; and the reason of this is, 
that man, not being God, cannot possess that divine 
attribute, by which the Lord, in his ineffable glory, 
clearly sees all things created. Man is condemned out 
of darkness to receive light, and out of light the expla- 
nation of what is obscure. For him, there is nothing 
evident which does not proceed from an impenetrable 
mystery. But between things mysterious and those 
that are evident, there is, however, this notable differ- 
ence : that man may render obscure that which is evi- 
dent, but he cannot explain the mysterious. When, in 
attempting to acquire that ineffable knowledge which is 
in God, but which he has not himself, he rejects as ob- 
scure the divine explanations, he consigns himself to 



122 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



the intricate and gloomy labyrinths of human solutions; 
then follows, what we have just demonstrated, that his 
solution is partial, and as such incomplete, and therefore 
false. At first view, his solution may seem to explain 
something, but upon investigation it will be seen that it 
really fails to give an explanation of what it appears to 
solve, and reason, which begins by accepting it as plausi- 
ble, finally rejects it as insufficient, contradictory, and 
absurd. This has been completely proved in the preceding 
chapter, with regard to the question which we are now 
considering; and, having shown the manifest deficiency 
of the human solution, it only remains for us to demon- 
strate the adequacy and entire consistency of the Cath- 
olic solution. 

God, who is the absolute good, is the supreme creator 
of all good ; and all that he creates is good. But as 
God cannot give the creature all that He possesses, nor 
give him that which He himself has not, it follows that 
it is altogether impossible either that God should com- 
municate evil, which dwells not in Him, to any creature, 
or that He should communicate absolute good ; both are 
manifest impossibilities, because we cannot conceive the 
imparting of that which one does not possess, nor can we 
conceive that the creator should remain absorbed by the 
creature. Not being able to communicate absolute good- 
ness, which would be to make of the creature another 
God like himself, nor to impart evil, which dwells not 
in him in any manner, he therefore bestows a relative 
goodness, whereby he imparts all that it is in his power 
to give, namely, something of that which is in him, but 
which is not himself ; thus producing between him and 
the creature a likeness which attests the derivation, and 
at the same time showing a difference which attests the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



123 



infinite distinction between him and his creature ; so 
that every creature, by the very fact of its existence, 
testifies that he is but a creature, and that God is his 
creator. 

God being the creator of all things created, all crea- 
tion is good by a relative goodness. Man is good as 
man, the angel as angel, and the tree as tree. Even 
the angel who gleams with lurid light in the abyss, and 
the very abyss from which proceeds this ghastly splen- 
dor, are things good and excellent. The prince of dark- 
ness is in himself good, because, in becoming what he is, 
he has not ceased to be an angel, and God created the 
angelical nature excellent above all things created; and 
the abyss is in itself good, because it is ordained for an 
end sovereignly good. 

And, though all things created are good and excel- 
lent, Catholicism affirms the existence of evil, and the 
great and fearful ravage committed by it in the world. 
The question consists in establishing what is evil; and, 
on the other hand, whence it comes ; and finally, in 
what way even its dissonance contributes to the general 
harmony. 

Evil has its origin in the use w T hich man made of the 
faculty of choice, which, as we have said, constitutes the 
imperfection of human liberty. This faculty was con- 
fined within certain limits imposed by the very nature 
of things. As all things were good, this faculty could 
not consist in choosing between things good, which neces- 
sarily existed, and things evil, which had no existence; 
it consisted only in embracing or renouncing good, in 
affirming or denying it. When the human mind, in the 
exercise of this power, withdrew itself from the divine 
mind, it w T as thus separated from truth, and ceased to 



124 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



comprehend it. When the human will deviated from 
the divine will, it was thus separated from good, ceased 
to desire it, and therefore to execute it. But as man 
could not cease to exercise his inherent and inamissible 
faculties, so he could not cease to understand, to will, 
and to act ; for this would have been ceasing to exist. 
But, separated from God, what he understood was not 
the truth, which dwells in God alone ; what he willed 
was not the good, which is to be found only in God ; 
and what he did, could not be that w T hich he neither 
understood nor willed.; and which, not being accepted 
by his understanding or will, could not be the term of 
his actions. The term of his understanding was there- 
fore error, which is the negation of truth ; the term of 
his will was evil, which is the negation of good ; and the 
end of his actions was sin, which is the simultaneous 
negation of truth and good ; these being only diverse 
manifestations of the same thing, considered under dif- 
ferent points of view. 

As sin denies all that God affirms with his under- 
standing, which is truth ; and all that he affirms with 
his will, which is good; and as there are no other affirm- 
ations in God than truth, which is in his understanding, 
and good which is in his will — God being these same 
affirmations substantially considered — it follows that 
sin, which denies all that God affirms, virtually denies 
God in all his affirmations ; and because it denies him, 
and does no other thing but deny him, it is therefore the 
supreme, universal, and absolute negation. 

This negation did not and could not affect the essence 
of things that exist independently of the human will, and 
which, after as before the prevarication, were not only 
good in themselves, but likewise perfect and excellent. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



125 



But, if sin did not deprive them of this excellence, it 
disturbed the sovereign harmony that the divine creator 
established among them, that delicate connection and 
perfect order with which they were united the one to 
the other, and all to God, when they were brought forth 
from chaos by an act of God's infinite goodness. In 
this state of perfect order and admirable connection, all 
things tended toward God with a determined and irre- 
sistible impulsion. Impelled by the law of love, the 
angel, a pure spirit, gravitated with an ardent and im- 
petuous desire toward God, as the center of all spirits. 
Man, less perfect but not less loving, was drawn by the 
same attraction to become associated with the angel in 
the bosom of God, the center of angelical and human 
gravitation. Even matter, agitated by a secret power 
of ascension, followed the gravitation of spirits toward 
the supreme creator, who sweetly attracts all things to 
himself. And thus, as all these things, considered in 
themselves, are the exterior manifestations of the essen- 
tial good which is in God, so the manner of being we 
have just indicated is the exterior manifestation of God's 
manner of existence, and is, as his very essence, perfect 
and excellent. Things created had a perfection suscep- 
tible of change, and another perfection which was neces- 
sary and inamissible, Their inamissible and necessary 
perfection was the essential good that God imparted to 
every creature, and their perfection which is contingent 
and liable to be lost, was that manner of being which 
God gave to them when he created them out of nothing. 
God wished that they should always be what they are, 
but he did not wish that they should necessarily exist in 
the same manner ; he withdrew the essences from all 
jurisdiction except his own, and he placed for a time 

12 



126 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM, 



the order in which they are, under the jurisdiction of 
those beings whom he formed intelligent and free; from 
which it follows that the evil, produced either by angel- 
ical or human free will, could not be, and was not, any- 
thing else than the negation of the order in which God 
has placed all things created. This negation is expressed 
by the word even which declares it, since it is called dis- 
order. Disorder is the negation of order, that is to say, 
of the divine affirmation with regard to the manner of 
being of all things. And thus, as order consists in the 
union of things that God wished to be united, and in the 
separation of those which he wished to be separated, 
so disorder consists in uniting those things which God 
wished to be separated, and in separating those which 
God wished to be united. 

The disorder produced by the angelical rebellion con- 
sisted in a partial separation of the rebel angel from 
God, who was his center, by a change in his manner of 
being, which converted his movement of gravitation 
toward God into a movement of rotation upon himself. 

The disorder caused by man's prevarication resembled 
that produced by the rebellion of the angels. As there 
cannot be two different ways of being a prevaricator and 
a rebel, after man ceased to gravitate toward God by his 
understanding, his will, and his actions, he constituted 
himself the center of his own movements, and made him- 
self the ultimate end of his works, his will, and his 
understanding. 

The confusion produced by this prevarication was 
deep and profound. When man separated himself from 
God, all his faculties became immediately disconnected 
one from the other, constituting themselves into so many 
divergent centers. His understanding lost its authority 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



127 



over his will, his will no longer directed his actions, the 
flesh departed from its former obedience to the spirit, 
and the spirit, which had been submissive to God, be- 
came subjected to the flesh. Previously, all had been 
concordant and harmonious in man; but now, all was 
converted into war, tumult, contradiction, dissonance. 
His nature, which had been supremely harmonious, 
became profoundly antithetical. 

This disorder, caused in man by himself, was trans- 
mitted from him to the universe, and affected the mode 
of being of all things which had been subjected to 
him, and which now revolted against him. When man 
ceased to be the servant of God, he ceased to be the 
prince of the earth, which is not surprising, when we 
reflect that the right to this terrestrial authority was 
based upon his obedience to God. Even the animals, 
to which he had given names, as a mark of his domin- 
ion over them, no longer heard his voice or obeyed his 
commands. The earth became overgrown with bram- 
bles ; the heavens flashed lightning ; the flowers armed 
themselves with thorns ; all nature seemed as if pos- 
sessed with an insensate rage against man ; the seas, at 
his approach, lashed their waves into fury, and their 
depths resounded with a frightful clamor ; the mount- 
ains raised their heads even to the clouds to arrest his 
progress ; the fields were overrun by impetuous tor- 
rents ; the whirlwind crushed his fragile dwelling ; the 
reptiles spat forth against him their deadly venom ; the 
herbs distilled their fatal poisons ; and at every step he 
feared an ambush, and in every ambush death. 

If we accept the Catholic interpretation of evil, all 
that without this explanation and outside of it appears 
and is inexplicable, becomes clear. Evil, according to 



128 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



the Catholic dogma, not having a real but a negative 
existence, cannot serve as material for a new crea- 
tion, and consequently the difficulty which would arise 
from the coexistence of two diverse and simultaneous 
creations, is avoided. This difficulty would increase at 
every step of our examination, if we accepted the sup- 
position of a dualism in creation. For, this hypothesis 
admitted, it would forcibly imply another dualism much 
more repugnant to human reason, that of an essential 
dualism in the divinity, whom we must either suppose to 
be a simple essence, or we cannot conceive at all. This 
divine dualism involves the idea of a rivalry, which 
would be at the same time necessary and impossible ; 
necessary, because two Gods who are antagonistic, and 
two essences that are repugnant to each other, are con- 
demned, by the very nature of things, to an incessant 
struggle ; and impossible, because a definitive victory is 
the final object of every contest; and this definitive vic- 
tory would be either in the suppression of evil for good, 
or of good for evil ; and yet neither can be suppressed, 
because they both exist in an essential, and therefore in 
a necessary manner. From the impossibility of sup- 
pression follows the impossibility of victory, which is 
the final object of all dispute, and therefore the radical 
impossibility of the dispute itself. The contradiction 
that exists in every system of manicheism, as applied 
to the divinity, also exists as applied to man, in whom 
we cannot suppose the substantial coexistence of good 
and evil. This contradiction is absurd, and therefore 
inconceivable. To affirm of man that he is at the 
same time essentially good and essentially evil, is equiv- 
alent to the assertion of one of these two things : either, 
that man is a unit, formed of two opposite natures, and 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



129 



in this affirmation the manichean system would unite 
what in the divinity it is obliged to separate ; or, to 
assert that the essence of man is one, and that, being 
one, it is evil and good at the same time, which is at 
once to affirm and deny of the same thing all that is 
denied and affirmed of that very thing. 

The Catholic system admits the existence of evil, but 
its existence is modal, not essential. Evil, thus consid- 
ered, is synonymous with disorder, and, in reality, it is 
nothing else than the disordered condition of that which 
is essentially good, and which, by a secret and myste- 
rious cause, has ceased to be properly regulated. But 
the Catholic system points out to us this secret and 
mysterious cause, and if, in this indication, there is 
much that surpasses our reason, there is nothing which 
contradicts or is repugnant to it. It is not necessary 
to have recourse to a divine intervention, in order to 
explain a modal perturbation in things which, after this 
disturbance, preserve their essence pure and intact ; in 
such an explanation there would be no proportion be- 
tween the effect and its cause. This fact is sufficiently 
explained by the anarchical intervention of free and 
intelligent beings ; for, if these beings could not in any 
way alter the marvelous order and concerted harmony 
of creation, they could not be regarded as free or intel- 
ligent. Evil, then, is accidental and ephemeral in its 
nature, and as such we may affirm of it, without contra- 
diction or inconsistency, these two things: first, that evil 
cannot in any way be a work of God ; second, that what- 
ever is accidental and ephemeral must be the work of 
man. In this way the affirmations of reason blend with 
the affirmations of Catholicism. According to the Cath- 
olic system, all absurdities disappear and all contradic- 

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130 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



tions are suppressed. By this system, the creation is 
one, and God is one; and, in setting aside a divine dual- 
ism, we put an end to the war of the gods. Evil exists, 
because without it we cannot imagine human liberty. 
But the evil that exists is accidental and not essential, 
because, if it were essential and not accidental, it would 
be a work of God, the creator of all things. This would 
involve a contradiction, repugnant both to divine and 
human reason. Evil comes from man, and is in man, 
and, coming from and dwelling in him, there is in it a 
great agreement, and no contradiction whatever. There 
is agreement, because inasmuch as evil cannot be the 
work of God, man could not choose it, if he could not 
create it; and he would not be free, if he could not 
choose it. There is no contradiction in this, because 
Catholicism, in affirming of man that he is good in his 
essence, and evil, by accident, does not assert of him 
the same that it denies, nor does it deny what it affirms, 
because, to affirm of man that the evil in his nature is 
accidental and not essential, is not to affirm contra- 
dictory things, but only two different things. 

Finally, the Catholic system subverts that blasphe- 
mous and impious system which supposes a perpetual 
antagonism between God and man, between the creator 
and the creature. Man, the author of evil, which is of 
itself accidental and transitory, cannot be compared 
with God, the creator, supporter, and regulator of all 
beings and all things. Nor can there exist any con- 
ceivable rivalry or possible competition between these 
two existences, which are separated by an infinite dis- 
tance. The battle between the creator of essential good 
and the creator of essential evil, as asserted by the Mani- 
chean and Proudhonian systems, is inconceivable and ab- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



131 



surd, because victory would be an impossibility in such a 
contest. The Catholic system does not suppose a contest, 
because there cannot be a conflict between parties, where 
one side must necessarily be victorious and the other 
necessarily vanquished. Two conditions are requisite 
for the existence of a contest : one, that victory is pos- 
sible; and the other, that it should be uncertain. Every 
struggle is useless when the victory is certain, or when 
it is impossible; from which it follows that, in whatever 
way we consider it, the hypothesis of these great battles 
fought for universal domination and supreme sway is 
absurd. And the inconsistency is equally great, whether 
one sovereign or two are supposed: in the first case, 
because he who is one will always be alone ; and sec- 
ondly, because the two would never be one, but per- 
petually two. These gigantic contests are such, that 
they are either decided before they commence, or will 
never be decided. 



CHAPTER V. 

Secret analogies between the physical and moral perturbations, 
caused by human liberty. 

How far the lamentable fall of man changed the 
aspect of all creation, and up to what point the ruin it 
involved extended, is beyond the power of human inves- 
tigation. But that which is established beyond all dis- 
pute is that the spirit and flesh both suffered a degrada- 
tion in Adam; the former by pride, and the latter by 
concupiscence. 



132 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



As the physical and the moral degradation proceed 
from the same cause, they both present surprising anal- 
ogies and correspondencies in their various manifesta- 
tions. 

We have already said that sin, the primitive cause of 
all degradation, was nothing else than disorder; and as 
order consisted in the perfect equilibrium of all things 
created, and this equilibrium in their hierarchical sub- 
ordination to each other, and in the absolute subjection 
of all to their Creator, it follows that sin, or disorder, 
which is the same thing, was nothing else than the 
weakening of this hierarchical order of things, and of 
their absolute subjection to the Supreme Being. Or, 
what is the same, sin consisted in the interruption of 
that perfect equilibrium and marvelous connection in 
which all things had been placed. 

And as effects must always be analogous to their 
causes, the result produced by the fall was, to a certain 
point, like the fall itself; that is, disorder ', disunion, 
and a disequilibrium. 

Sin was the disunion of man and God. 

Sin produced both a moral and a physical disorder. 

The moral disorder consisted in the ignorance of the 
understanding and the weakness of the will. 

This ignorance of the understanding was caused by 
its disunion from the divine mind. The weakness of 
the will was caused by its disunion from the supreme 
will. 

The physical disorder produced by sin consisted in 
sickness and death; so that sickness is only disorder, 
disunion, and disequilibrium of the constitutive parts of 
oar body. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



133 



Death is only the same disunion, the same disorder, 
the same disequilibrium, carried to its extreme point. 

Therefore the physical and moral disorder, ignorance, 
and weakness of will on the one side, and sickness and 
death on the other, are the same thing. 

This will be seen more clearly when we consider that 
all these disorders, physical as well as moral, come 
under the same denomination in their beginning and in 
their end. 

The concupiscence of the flesh, and the pride of the 
spirit, bear the same name — sin; and the definitive dis- 
union of the soul from God, and of the body from the 
soul, bear the same name — death. 

By which we see that the connection between the 
physical and the moral is so close that we can alone 
perceive the difference at an intermediate point, inas- 
much as the beginning and end are the same. And 
how could it be otherwise, if the physical and the moral 
alike come from God and end in God; if God exists 
before sin and after death ? 

This intimate connection between the moral and the 
physical might be unknown to the earth, which is purely 
material, and to the angels, who are purely spiritual ; 
but how could it be hidden from man, who is composed 
of an immortal soul united to a corporeal substance, and 
placed by God at the confluence of the two worlds? 

The great perturbation produced by sin did not stop 
here. Not only did Adam become subject to sickness 
and death, but likewise all the earth was cursed on his 
account and in his name. 

As regards this tremendous, and, in a certain meas- 
ure, incomprehensible curse, without daring to penetrate 
into a question so obscure, and acknowledging as w r e do 



134 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



that the judgments of God are as secret as his works 
are marvelous, it nevertheless is evident that if we once 
admit in theory the mysterious relation that God has 
placed between the moral and the physical, and also ad- 
mit it to be actually and in a certain degree visible in 
man, even if it is in some measure inexplicable, then all 
the rest is subordinate in this profound mystery. For 
the mystery lies in the law of relation, rather than in 
the applications which may be made of this law by way 
of inference. 

It is proper to mention here, in order to throw light 
upon this difficult subject, and as a full proof of what 
we have stated, that physical things cannot be consid- 
ered as possessing an independent existence; that is, 
as existing in themselves, by themselves, and for them- 
selves; but they must rather be regarded as manifesta- 
tions of spiritual things, w 7 hich alone possess in them- 
selves the reason of their existence. God, a pure 
spirit, being the beginning and end of all things, it 
is clear that all things, in their beginning and end, 
must be spiritual. This being the case, material 
things are either mere phantoms, that have no exist- 
ence, or, if they really exist, they must have their be- 
ing through God and for God, which means that they 
exist through the spirit and for the spirit. From which 
w T e infer that any perturbation, whatever it may be, in 
the spiritual world, must necessarily produce another 
analogous to it in the material world; as we cannot con- 
ceive that things themselves should remain in their 
proper order and agreement when there exists a per- 
turbation in the superior order from which they have 
their beginning and their end. 

The disorder, then, produced by sin was necessarily 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



135 



general, and was felt both in the spiritual and in the 
material world. When the face of God, hitherto serene 
and placid, became clouded with wrath, then the sera- 
phim veiled their brightness with their wings ; the ground 
became covered with thorns and brambles ; the trees be- 
came withered; vegetation lost its freshness; the har- 
vests were parched; the grateful waters of the fountains 
became malignant; the earth was covered with gloomy, 
impenetrable, and frightful forests, and was intercepted 
with rugged mountains; and there was henceforth a tor- 
rid and a frigid zone, so that the earth was consumed 
with heat or chilled with frost ; while impetuous whirlwinds 
arose, covering the whole horizon, until throughout the 
circumference of the world raged the wild fury of the 
hurricane. 

Man was placed, as it were, in the center of this uni- 
versal disorder, which he had caused, and which became 
his punishment. More profoundly and radically affected 
than any other portion of creation, he remained exposed, 
without any other aid than the divine clemency, to the 
violence of every physical and moral evil. His life was 
a constant temptation and contest, his wisdom was ig- 
norance, his ^ill was weakness, his flesh was corruption. 
Each of his actions was attended with remorse, each 
pleasure was succeeded by sorrow or bitter grief; his 
cares equaled his desires, his hopes were dispelled as 
illusions, and his illusions were equaled by his disap- 
pointments. The past and the future alike tormented 
him, and even his imagination could scarcely invest his 
nakedness and wretchedness with some glittering orna- 
ments of gold and purple. Yearning after the good 
for which he was created, he pursued the evil path upon 
which he had entered; though feeling the need of a 
God, he fell into the unfathomable abyss of superstition. 



136 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM. 



He was condemned to suffer; and who can recount the 
extent of his sufferings? He was condemned to toil 
unto weariness ; and who can enumerate his painful 
labors? He was condemned to gain his bread by the 
sweat of his brow; and who can count the dolorous 
drops wrung from his aching brow? 

Whatever the condition of man may be, whether 
placed in the most elevated or in the lowest situation 
in life, he is never exempt from the consequences en- 
tailed upon all by sin. The high in rank are exposed 
to envy, and the lowly may be oppressed. Where is 
the man whose body has not felt pain? Where is the 
soul that has not suffered anguish? Who is so high that 
he fears not to fall? Who believes so firmly in the 
constancy of fortune that he has no fear of its reverses? 
All men in birth, through life, and in death, are equal, 
because all are guilty and all are punished. 

If to be born, to live, and to die is not a punishment, 
why are we not born, why do we not live and die, in the 
same manner as other beings do?- Why are we so 
afraid to die? Why is life so full of anxiety? Why 
do we come into the world at our birth in the posture 
of penitents, with our arms crossed? Why, when we 
first open our eyes to the light, do we weep, and why is 
the first sound we utter a groan? 

The facts of history confirm the dogmas we have just 
announced, and all their mysterious agreements. The 
Saviour of the world, to the edification and profound 
awe of the few just souls that followed him, and to the 
scandal of the doctors, blotted out sin in the act of cur- 
ing the sick ; and when he healed the sick, he absolved 
them from their sins, sometimes suppressing the cause 
by the suppression of the effect, and again suppressing 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



137 



the effect by removing the cause. A paralytic having 
been placed before him, when he was surrounded by the 
doctors of the law and the pharisees, he said to the 
man: "Be of good heart, son, thy sins are forgiven 
thee." They that were present were scandalized, think- 
ing that the assumption of the power of absolution was 
only pride and madness in the Nazarene, and that to 
attempt to heal the sick by absolving them from their 
sins, was the height of folly. And when the Lord saw 
these guilty thoughts arise in the hearts of these people, 
he added, "but that you may know that the Son of 
man hath power on earth to forgive sins, arise," said 
he, "take up thy bed, and go into thy house." And it 
was done as he had said. In this our Saviour shows 
us that the power to cure and the power to absolve 
are the same power, and that sin and sickness are 
the same thing. 

Before we proceed further it will be well to notice 
here, in confirmation of what we have stated, two things 
worthy to be remembered : first, that our Lord before tak- 
ing upon himself the sins of the world, was exempt from 
all infirmity and inconvenience, because he was exempt 
from sin ; and secondly, that when he consented to bear 
these sins, willingly accepting the effects as well as their 
causes, and the consequences as well as their principles, 
he accepted sorrow, viewing it an inseparable compan- 
ion of sin; and he sweat blood in the garden; and he 
suffered anguish in the judgment-hall; and he was over- 
come by the weight of the cross ; and he endured thirst 
on Calvary, and a terrible agony when nailed to the 
frightful cross; and he beheld death with terror, yield- 
ing up his spirit in deep grief and anguish to his most 
holy Father. 

13 



138 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



As to the admirable correspondence of which we have 
spoken, between the disorders of the moral and those of 
the physical world, mankind unanimously proclaim it 
without understanding it, as if compelled by an invinci- 
ble and supernatural power to give testimony to this 
great mystery. The united voice of tradition, the pop- 
ular belief, all the vague rumors circulated by the winds, 
and all the echoes of the world, mysteriously tell us of a 
great physical and moral disturbance, which took place 
at a period anterior to the dawn of history, and even to 
that of fable, and as a consequence of a primitive fault, 
which was so great that it could neither be comprehended 
by the understanding nor expressed in words. And 
even now, if an elemental disturbance arises, or strange 
phenomena occur in the celestial spheres; if great chas- 
tisements fall upon nations by wars, pestilence, or famine ; 
if the seasons alter the accustomed course of their har- 
monious revolutions, and seem to battle against each 
other; if the earth trembles and shakes; if the winds, 
freed from the limits which restrain their impetuosity, 
rush onward with the devastating force of the hurri- 
cane, — then the people, who have preserved in their 
inmost hearts this tremendous tradition, seek with fear 
and trembling for the cause of such unwonted disturb- 
ance, and attribute it to some great sin, which has drawn 
upon them the divine wrath, and upon the earth the 
malediction of heaven. 

It is evident that these vague apprehensions are not 
only unfounded, but proceed from ignorance of the laws 
that govern natural phenomena; but it appears to us no 
less certain that the error is solely in the application 
and not in the idea ; in the result deduced, and not in 
the principle; in practice and not in theory. Tradition 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



139 



remains as a perpetual testimony to truth, notwithstand- 
ing all its false applications. The multitude may err, 
and frequently do so when they affirm that a certain sin 
is the cause of a certain disturbance; but they cannot 
err when they assert that disorder is caused by sin. It 
is precisely because tradition, considered in its general- 
ity, is the manifestation and visible form of an absolute 
truth, that it becomes difficult and almost impossible to 
withdraw people from those concrete errors which are 
the result of their practical applications. What there 
is true in tradition gives consistency to what is false in 
the application, so that error, in the concrete, lives and 
grows under the protection of absolute truth. 

History is not wanting in remarkable examples which 
help to confirm this universal tradition, transmitted from 
father to son, from family to family, from race to race, 
from nation to nation, from country to country, even to 
the ends of the earth; because whenever crime has ex- 
ceeded a certain limit, and has filled a certain measure, 
some terrible punishments have overtaken nations, and 
dreadful convulsions have shaken the world. The first 
perversion was that universal wickedness of which the 
holy Scripture speaks, when, in the antediluvian epoch, 
all men were united in a common apostacy and forget- 
fulness of God, and lived without any other god or law 
than their criminal desires and frenzied passions. Then 
the measure of divine wrath was filled, and the earth was 
overwhelmed by that fearful inundation of waters which 
leveled the mountains with the valleys, and wrapped all 
the earth in one common distress and ruin. Afterward, 
when time had run his course midway, the Desired of Na- 
tions came, in fulfillment of ancient promises and proph- 
ecies. The period of his coming was distinguished by 



140 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM," 



the perversity and malice of men, and by a universal 
corruption of manners. Then there came a day of 
sad and sorrowful memory, the most dismal and dolor- 
ous that the world has ever seen since the creation; 
when an enraged and insensate people arose in the mad- 
ness of their wrath, made their God an object of de- 
rision, and covering him with contumely and subjecting 
him to every ignominy, crucified him between two 
thieves. Then the cup of divine wrath was filled to over- 
flowing, and the sun withdrew his rays, and the veil of 
the temple was rent in twain, and the rocks were burst 
asunder, and the entire earth was abandoned to terror 
and dismay. 

Many other examples might be adduced as evidence 
of the mysterious agreements between physical and 
moral perturbations, and in confirmation of the univer- 
sal tradition which marks and proclaims them; but the 
limits which we have proposed to ourselves, and the 
grandeur of the examples we have already given, alike 
induce us to terminate the investigation of this subject. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Of -th.e angelical and human prevarication; greatness, and 
enormity of sin. 

We have now exposed the Catholic theory respecting 
evil, the child of sin; and with regard to sin, the off- 
spring of human liberty, which has a free movement 
within its limited sphere, under the eye, and with the 
consent of that sovereign Lord who, disposing all things 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



141 



with weight, number, and measure, arranged them so 
wisely that his providence would not restrict the free 
will of man, nor the improper use of this will, however 
great and calamitous it might be, and to the disregard of 
his glory. Before proceeding further, it appears to me 
becoming the dignity of the subject, to give a connected 
recital of that wonderful tragedy which commenced in 
heaven and ended in the terrestrial paradise, without 
noticing the difficulties and objections, which will be 
answered elsewhere, and which would only serve to 
obscure the severe and simple beauty of this lament- 
able history. 

AYe have seen in what manner the Catholic theory is 
superior to all others, in the entire consistency of all its 
solutions; and we shall now see in what way the facts 
upon which it is established, considered in themselves, 
are superior to any of the primitive histories, however 
imposing and dramatic they may be. We have, until 
now, presented the beauty of this theory by compari- 
sons and deductions; now, we shall examine its intrinsic 
and incomparable excellence. 

Before the creation of man, and in ages too remote 
for human investigations, God created the angels blessed 
and perfect creatures, to whom it was given to dwell in 
the serene radiance of the beatific vision, bathed in an 
ocean of unspeakable delights and perpetual adoration. 
The angels were pure spirits, and their nature surpassed 
that of man, who was composed of an immortal soul 
united to the dust of the earth. In the simplicity of 
his nature, the angel resembled God, while in his rea- 
soning faculties, his liberty, and his limited wisdom, he 
was in affinity with man. So, man in his spiritual 
nature was conformed to the angel, and in his corporeal 

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142 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



nature to physical things, which were placed in subjec- 
tion to his will and in obedience to his word. And all 
creatures were born with the inclination and the power 
to change their condition, and to ascend in that immense 
scale of being which, commencing in the lowest exist- 
ences, terminates in that holy Being, who is above all, 
and whose incommunicable name the heavens and the 
earth, men and angels adore. Physical nature aspired 
in a certain way to a spiritual condition, to a resem- 
blance with man; and man sought a higher spiritual- 
ity and a nearer resemblance to the angel ; and the 
angel a closer assimilation to that perfect Being, who is 
the source of all life, the creator of all creatures, whose 
vastness none may measure, and whose immensity none 
may comprehend. All things had come forth from God, 
and were to reascend to God, as to their first principle 
and origin ; and because all things were created by him 
and were to return to him, so was there nothing that 
did not reflect, with more or less brightness, his beauty. 

In this way infinite diversity was reduced, of itself, to 
that vast unity which created all things, and which estab- 
lished among them such a wonderful harmony and con- 
nection, separating those which were confused and unit- 
ing those which were disconnected. By this we see that 
the act of creation was complex, and composed of two 
different acts — that is, the act by which God created 
what before had no existence, and the act by which he 
disposed all that he had created, according to his wis- 
dom. By the first of these acts he revealed his power 
to create all substances, and by the second he revealed 
the power to create every form that embellishes these 
substances; and, as there can be no other substance 
than that created by God, so there can be no beauty 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



143 



except that which he has given to things. For this 
reason the universe, which signifies everything created 
by God, is the combination of all substance ; and order, 
which signifies the form in which God has modeled all 
things, is the combination of all beauty, There exists 
no creator except God, there can be no beauty except 
in order, and no creature except in the universe. 

If all beauty consists in the order originally estab- 
lished by God, and if beauty, justice, and goodness are 
the same thing, viewed under different aspects, it follows 
from this that, outside of this order established by God, 
there can be neither beauty, justice, nor goodness ; and 
if these three things constitute the supreme good, order, 
which includes them all, must necessarily be the supreme 
good. 

As there is no good except in order, everything not 
in conformity with order must be evil ; nor can there 
be any evil w T hich does not consist in a subversion of 
order ; therefore, as order is the supreme good, disorder 
is the supreme evil, because outside of disorder there 
can be no evil, and outside of order no good. From 
what has been said, we deduce the inference that order, 
or, what is the same thing, supreme good, consists in the 
preservation of all things in that connection in which 
God placed them, when he created them out of nothing; 
and that disorder, or, what is its equivalent, supreme 
evil, consists in breaking this admirable connection and 
this sublime harmony. 

This connection could not be broken nor this harmony 
interrupted except by the exercise of a will and power 
which were, to a certain point and in a possible manner, 
independent of the will of God. No creature was en- 
dowed to such an extent, except angels and men, who 



144 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



were alone created in the image and likeness of their 
maker, that is to say, intelligent and free; consequently 
angels and men could alone be the cause of disorder, or, 
what is its equivalent, supreme evil. Angels and men 
could not disturb the order of the universe without re- 
belling against God ; therefore, in order to explain the 
existence of evil and disorder, it is necessary to suppose 
the existence of rebellious angels and men. 

All disobedience and rebellion being what is called 
sin, and all sin being a rebellion and disobedience, it 
follows that we can neither conceive of disorder in crea- 
tion, nor of evil in the world, without supposing the 
existence of sin. 

If sin consists in disobedience and rebellion, and if 
these are nothing but disorder, and disorder nothing but 
evil, then it follows that evil, disorder, rebellion, dis- 
obedience, and sin are absolutely identical — just as good, 
order, submission, and obedience are things presenting 
a perfect resemblance. Whence we conclude that sub- 
mission to the divine will is the supreme good, and sin 
the supreme evil. 

When all the angels were obedient to the voice of 
their Creator, viewing themselves in his divine coun- 
tenance, rejoicing in his splendors, and moving with 
freedom and concerted harmony at his word, it came to 
pass that the most glorious among them forgot God in 
the contemplation of himself, and remained enraptured 
in self-adoration, and ecstatic at beholding his own 
beauty. Regarding himself as self-subsistent, and as 
his own ultimate end, he violated that universal and 
sacred law, according to which all diversity must have 
its beginning and its end in unity, which, embracing all 
without being embraced in anything, is the universal 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



145 



container of all created things, as the creator is of all 
creatures. 

The rebellion of the angel was the first disorder, the 
first evil, and the first sin. It was the origin of all sin, 
of all the evil and all the disorder which was to fall 
upon creation, and especially upon the human race, 
through subsequent ages ; for, when the fallen angel, 
who was now deprived of light and beauty, saw the man 
and woman in paradise, so pure, so lustrous, and so 
beautiful with the splendors of grace, he felt the deepest 
dejection at the sight of an excellence which he had lost, 
and instantly formed the design of involving them in his 
condemnation, since he could not equal them in glory. 
Assuming the form of a serpent, which was to be for- 
ever the symbol of deceit and cunning, the horror of the 
human race, and an object of divine wrath, he entered 
the terrestrial paradise, and, gliding through its tender 
and fragrant herbage, entangled the woman in that most 
subtle snare, by which she lost her innocence, and with 
it her happiness. 

Nothing can equal the sublime simplicity of the Mo- 
saical narration of this tragedy, of which the terrestrial 
paradise was the theater, God the spectator, and the act- 
ors, on the one side the king and sovereign of the abyss, 
and on the other the kings and sovereigns of the earth: 
of which mankind was to be the victim, while the sad and 
sorrowful catastrophe was to be lamented with everlast- 
ing sorrowing, by the earth in its motion, by the heav- 
enly bodies in their revolutions, by the angels on their 
thrones, and by us, unhappy children of those unfortu- 
nate parents, in the darksome valley of our pilgrimage. 

The serpent commenced his discourse thus: "Why 
hath God commanded you that you should not eat of 



146 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



every tree of paradise?'' And immediately the woman 
felt her heart inspired with that vain curiosity which 
was the primal cause of her guilt. From that moment, 
her understanding and her will were enfeebled by the 
sweet temptation, and began to depart from the will of 
God and the divine mind. 

And the serpent said to the woman: "In what day 
soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, 
and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." 
Under the disastrous influence of this promise, the 
woman felt in her heart the first sensations of pride, 
and regarding herself with complacency, the face of 
God was at that moment withdrawn from her sight. 
Proud and vain, she cast her eyes upon the tree of 
infernal illusions and divine vengeance ; she saw that it 
was beautiful, and inferred that its fruit must be pleas- 
ant to the taste, and felt enkindled in her senses the 
fire, till then unknown, of corrosive delights. Thus the 
curiosity of the eyes, and gratification of the flesh, and 
pride of the spirit combined, deprived the first woman of 
her innocence, and afterward corrupted the first man. 
Then the many treasured hopes for his posterity van- 
ished, as smoke is dissipated in the ambient air. 

And then the entire universe was disturbed, and dis- 
order, having commenced at the highest point of the 
scale of created beings, was communicated from one to 
the other, until everything was wrested from the course 
and place assigned to it by the sovereign Creator. The 
innate attraction of every creature to ascend and re- 
mount even to the throne of God, was changed into an 
aspiration to descend into some nameless abyss ; for, 
to turn away from God was, as it were, seeking for 
death and striving to get rid of life. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



147 



However deep man may descend into the fathomless 
abyss of wisdom, however high he may mount in the 
investigation of the most hidden mysteries, yet he can 
never ascend so high nor descend so low, as to be able 
to comprehend the vast ravages inflicted by this first 
crime, and out of which all other calamities have arisen, 
as from a most prolific source. 

No; never can man, never can the sinner, conceive 
the magnitude and the deformity of sin. In order to 
understand how great, how terrible, and how devastating 
are its effects, we must examine it under the divine point 
of view, and not as measured by human standards. As 
in the deity we find the supreme good, and in sin the 
supreme evil, the deity being order and sin disorder, the 
deity a complete affirmation and sin an absolute nega- 
tion, the deity being plenitude of existence and sin its 
absolute decline, there exists between God and sin, as 
between affirmation and negation, order and disorder, 
good and evil, existence and non-existence, an incom- 
mensurable distance, an invincible contradiction, and an 
infinite repugnance. 

No calamity, however overwhelming, can disturb the 
ineffable repose of the Divinity. When the universal 
deluge overspread the earth, God beheld the tremendous 
inundation, considered in itself and separated from its 
cause, with a serene countenance; because the angels, 
obedient to his command, had opened the floodgates of 
heaven ; and the waters, obedient to his voice, covered 
the mountains and encompassed the earth ; the clouds 
gathered from every corner of the obscured horizon, and 
united hung as a black pall over the earth ; yet the face 
of God remained serene, because it was his will that 
darkness should cover the earth; for he called the 



148 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



clouds, and they came; he commanded them to unite, 
and they did so. It is he who sends the hurricane to 
desolate a guilty city, and he who, in the fulfillment of 
his designs, arrests the waters, restrains the thunder- 
bolt within the cloud, or hurls it flashing through the 
air. His eyes have witnessed the rise and fall of every 
empire ; his ears have heard the prayers of nations, 
laid waste by the sword of the conqueror, by pestilence, 
slavery, and famine ; and he has remained tranquil and 
impassive, because it is he who holds, as mere puppets 
in his hand, the empires of the world; it is he who 
puts the sword in the hand of the conqueror ; it is he 
who sends tyrants to rule over guilty nations ; it is he 
who punishes unbelieving peoples with famine and pesti- 
lence, when his sovereign justice demands it. 

There is a frightful place, the abode of horror, fear, 
and suffering, where there is insatiable thirst and per- 
petual hunger without relief ; where no light ever glad- 
dens the eyes, nor peaceful sounds reach the ear; where 
all is agitation without repose, weeping without inter- 
mission, and grief without consolation. There, all may 
enter, but none may depart. There, hope dies, but 
memory is immortal. The limits of this place are 
known to God alone, and these torments are uninter- 
rupted and endless in duration ; yet this cursed abode, 
with its inexpressible agonies, does not disturb the tran- 
quillity of God, because his omnipotence has so ordained 
it. God made hell for the reprobate, just as he made 
the earth for men and heaven for angels and saints. 
Hell declares his justice, as the earth proclaims his 
goodness and the heavens his mercy. Wars, inunda- 
tions, plagues, conquests, famine, hell itself, are some- 
thing good, because they are all ordained with regard 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



149 



to the ultimate end of creation, and they all serve as 
useful instruments of the divine justice ; and because 
they are all useful, and have been made by the author 
of all good, none of them can alter the ineffable repose 
of the creator of all things. Nothing is hateful to God 
but that which he has not made ; and as he has created 
all that exists, nothing displeases him but the negation 
of what he has created. For this reason is it that dis- 
order, which is the negation of the order which he estab- 
lished, and disobedience, which is the denial of the obe- 
dience due to him, are hateful in his sight. This dis- 
obedience, this disorder, are the supreme evil, inasmuch 
as they are the negation of the supreme good, the 
supreme evil consisting in this negation, But disobe- 
dience and disorder are nothing else than sin ; from 
which it follows that sin, being an absolute negation on 
the part of man, of the supreme affirmation on the part 
of God, is therefore the supreme evil, which alone strikes 
God and his angels with horror. 

Sin filled heaven with mourning, hell with lamenta- 
tions, and the earth with calamities. It was sin which 
brought sickness, pestilence, famine, and death into the 
world. It was sin which caused the destruction of the 
most renowned and populous cities. It caused the down- 
fall of Babylon and her splendid gardens, of Nineveh 
the proud, of Persepolis the daughter of the sun, of 
Memphis the seat of the most profound mysteries, of 
Sodom the impure, of Athens the witty, of Jerusalem 
the unfaithful, and of Rome the magnificent; for, if 
God ordained the destruction of all these cities, he only 
did so as a punishment and a remedy for sin. Sin has 
caused all the sighs that have agitated human breasts, 
and all the tears that have fallen, drop by drop, from 

14 



150 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



the eyes of men, and, what is much more than all, and 
beyond imagination to conceive or words to express, it 
has caused tears to flow from the most sacred eyes of 
the Son of God, the meek Lamb who suffered on the 
cross for the sins of the world. Neither men, nor the 
earth, nor the heavens ever saw him laugh : but men, 
the earth, and the heavens saw him weep. And he 
wept at the contemplation of sin. He wept over the 
grave of Lazarus, but he only bewailed, in the death of 
his friend, the loss of the soul through sin. He wept 
over Jerusalem, but he wept for the abominable sins of 
a people who could commit a deicicle. He was sad and 
agitated in the garden, but it was horror of sin which 
there filled his soul with anguish, so that his brow sweat 
blood at the dreadful spectacle. He was crucified, but 
it was sin which nailed him to the cross, and caused him 
to expire there in bitter agony. 



CHAPTER VII. 

How God causes good to result from the angelical and human 
prevarication. 

The most fearful of all mysteries is that of free will, 
which constitutes man his own master, and associates 
him with the Divinity in the direction and government 
of human affairs. 

As the partial liberty given to the creature consists 
in the supreme faculty of choosing between obedience 
to or rebellion against God, so the granting of this lib- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



151 



erty amounts to the same thing as bestowing the right 
to alter the immaculate beauty of creation. And as 
this spotless beauty consists in the order and harmony 
of the universe, so to confer the faculty of disturbing 
this order is the same thing as to grant the power to 
substitute disorder for order, perturbation for harmony, 
and evil for good. 

This right, even restrained by the limits we have indi- 
cated, is so exorbitant, and this faculty is so monstrous, 
that God would never have consented to its exercise, 
had he not been certain of making it an instrument for 
the accomplishment of his designs, and of controlling 
the disasters it produces by his infinite power. 

The principal reason why man should be permitted to 
convert order into disorder, harmony into perturbation, 
and good into evil, is found in the power of God to 
change disorder into order, perturbation into harmony, 
and evil into good. If we do not admit this sovereign 
power in God, it would be logically necessary to deprive 
the creature of the faculty of liberty, or to deny the 
divine intelligence and omnipotence. 

If God permits sin, which is the sovereign evil and 
disorder, it is because sin, far from restraining the exer- 
cise of his justice and mercy, serves to exhibit new man- 
ifestations of those attributes. If the rebellious sinner 
had not existed, the divine justice and mercy would not 
thereby have been suppressed; but only one of their 
especial manifestations would no longer exist — that 
which is peculiarly applied to rebellious sinners. 

As the supreme good of intelligent and free beings 
consists in their union with God, so God has, in his in- 
finite goodness, and by a free act of his ineffable mercy, 
determined that they should be united to him not only 



152 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



by natural, but also by supernatural ties. And as on 
the one side the divine will might fail to be accomplished 
through the voluntary refusal of intelligent and free 
beings, and on the other the liberty of the creature was 
essential to this voluntary choice, so the great problem 
rests in conciliating these things, which are to a certain 
point contradictory, in such a way that neither the lib- 
erty of the creature be destroyed, nor the will of God 
fail to be accomplished. The possibility of a separa- 
tion from God being necessary, as an evidence of angel- 
ical and human freedom, and a union with God likewise 
essential as an evidence of the efficacy of the divine will, 
the difficulty consists in proving how the liberty of the 
creature and the will of God, the separation which the 
creature chooses, and the union which God desires, can 
be made compatible with each other, so that the creat- 
ure neither ceases to be free nor God to be sovereign. 

To show this it is requisite that the withdrawal from 
God should be in a certain respect real, and in another 
only apparent; that is to say, that the creature may be 
able to withdraw himself from God, but in such a way 
that this separation unite him to God in a different man- 
ner. Intelligent and free beings were born united to 
God by an effect of his grace. By sin they really sep- 
arate themselves from God, because they really and 
truly break the bond of his grace, which unites them to 
him: and they thereby give testimony to his having 
made them intelligent and free beings. But this sepa- 
ration is, if we attentively regard it, only a new kind 
of union; since, in withdrawing from God by the free 
renunciation of his grace, they are drawn back to him 
by falling into the hands of his justice, or by becoming 
the objects of his mercy. In this way the separation 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 153 

from, and union with. God, which at first sight would 
seem to be incompatible, are in reality in all respects 
reconcilable ; so much so that all separation resolves it- 
self into a special mode of union, and all union into a 
special mode of separation. The creature is not united 
to God through grace, but because he has been separated 
from Him as regards His justice and mercy. The creat- 
ure that falls into the hands of His justice only does so 
because he has withdrawn himself from His grace and 
mercy; and in the same way, if he is the object of God's 
mercy, he is so only inasmuch as he has separated him- 
self from Him as regards grace, at the same time being 
separated from Him as regards His justice. The liberty 
of the creature consists, then, in the faculty of desig- 
nating the kind of union that he prefers by the manner 
of separation that he chooses ; as also the sovereignty 
of God consists in this, that whatever manner of sepa- 
ration the creature may adopt, he effects a union with 
the latter by every mode of separation and by every 
way. Creation resembles a circle. God is, in a certain 
point of view, its circumference, and in another its cen- 
ter; as the center he attracts, as the circumference he 
includes all. Nothing can exist beyond this circle that 
contains all, and everything obeys this irresistible at- 
traction. The liberty of intelligent and free beings 
consists in their being able to fly from the circumfer- 
ence, which is God, and going to God, who is the cen- 
ter ; and in flying from the center, which is God, to give 
themselves to God, who is the circumference. Nothing 
is more capable of expansion than the circumference, 
and nothing more contracting of itself than the center. 
What angel has the power, what man dare attempt, to 
break through this great circle that God has traced ? 

14* 



154 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



What creature is so presumptuous as to defy those math- 
ematically inflexible laws which have been eternally es- 
tablished by the divine mind? What can be the center 
of that inexorable circle but those things which are in- 
finitely united in God? What can be the circumference 
of this circle but those same things which have in God 
an infinite expansion? And what expansion can be 
greater than this infinite expansion? What contraction 
surpasses this infinite contraction ? For this reason St. 
Augustin, the greatest of geniuses and the most illus- 
trious of doctors, who was the embodiment of the spirit 
of the Church, is amazed, and, as it were, transported 
at beholding all things in God and God in all things, 
and man seeking to fly, he knows not how, at one time 
from the center that attracts him, and then from the 
circumference that encircles him. This great saint, lost 
in love and inundated by the fortifying waters of grace, 
beats his breast, and in anguish exclaims : Poor mortal, 
thou seekest to fly from Grod : throw thyself into his 
arms. Never have human lips uttered words so lovingly 
sublime, and of such sublime tenderness. God then 
points out the end of all things, but the creature chooses 
the way. In designating the term where all ways meet, 
God is the omnipotent sovereign; and in choosing the 
way which will bring him to the term, the creature is 
intelligently free. 

Nor can it be said that the liberty which consists only 
in a choice among many paths by which to reach a neces- 
sary end, is a trivial affair. We cannot consider that 
freedom of little consequence which consists in the 
choice of salvation or perdition; inasmuch as the vari- 
ous ways of approaching God (who is the necessary 
limit of all things) are finally reduced to two — heaven 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



155 



and hell. If the faculty that God has bestowed upon 
the creature of choosing the manner of approaching 
him, does not confer sufficient liberty, what extent of 
liberty would ever satisfy the desire of man ? 

If we do not accept this explication, there is no pos- 
sible conciliation between things which we can imagine 
reconcilable only in an absolute way. But this explana- 
tion renders intelligible the secret causes of the most 
profound mysteries and of the most elevated designs. 
It enables us to comprehend the reason of the angelical 
and human prevarication, these two great evidences of 
the liberty permitted to men and angels. If God per- 
mitted the angelical prevarication, it was because he 
knew the secret mode of reconciling the angelical disor- 
der with the divine order, even as the angels knew how 
to convert order into disorder. The angel changed 
order into disorder by transforming union into separa- 
tion. God changed disorder into order, transforming a 
momentary separation into an indissoluble union. The 
angel would not be united to God by way of recompense, 
and he was eternally united to him by the way of pun- 
ishment. He refused to listen to the gentle entreaties 
of grace, and he was forced to hear the stern sentence 
of justice. He sought an absolute separation from God, 
but the instant he did so he was united to him in a dif- 
ferent manner. He became separated from a gracious 
God, and was united to a just God. He withdrew from 
God in heaven, and was united to him in hell. The 
order in which things are established does not consist 
in their being united to God in a certain manner, but 
simply in their being united to God ; as disorder does 
not consist in their separation from God in a certain 
way, and in their being united to God in a different 



156 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM, 



Tray, but in an absolute separation from God. There- 
fore, true order always exists, and true disorder has no 
existence. Sin is so radical and absolute a negation 
that it not only denies order but also disorder ; for, 
after having denied all affirmations, it denies its own 
negations, and even denies itself. Sin is the negation 
of negations, the shadow of a shadow, the appearance 
of an appearance. 

If God permitted the prevarication of man, which 
was, as we have said, less radical and culpable than the 
angelical prevarication, it was because God knew, from 
all eternity, the perfect way of reconciling the divine 
order with the disorder created by man, even as man 
knew how to draw disorder out of order. Man changed 
order into disorder by separating that which God had 
united in a bond of love. God brought order out of 
disorder, reuniting what man had separated in bonds 
still more close and endearing. Man having rejected 
a union with God by the ties of original justice and 
sanctifving; grace, found himself united to him through 
his infinite mercy. If God permitted man's prevari- 
cation, it was because he held, as in reserve, the Sav- 
iour of mankind, who was to come in the fullness of 
time. That sovereign evil was necessary to procure 
this supreme good; and for the reception of so great a 
blessing, that great catastrophe was requisite. Man 
sinned because God had resolved to become man, and 
because, having become man without ceasing to be God, 
his blood had a supreme virtue sufficient to wash away 
sin. Man vacillated because God had power to sustain 
the vacillating; he fell because God had power to raise 
him up again ; he wept because he who had power to 
dry the earth when it was overflowed by the waves of 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



157 



the deluge, could likewise dry the sad valley filled with 
our tears. Man endured bodily anguish because God 
could free him from pain; he suffered great misfortunes 
because God had still greater rewards in store for him. 
He went forth from Eden, endured death, and was laid 
in the tomb, because God had power to vanquish death, 
to deliver him from the grave, and to raise him to 
heaven. 

Thus as the angelical and human prevarications enter 
into the elements of universal order, in consequence of 
an admirable divine action, in the same manner the lib- 
erty of the angel and the liberty of man, which caused 
their fall, are necessary elements of that supreme and 
universal law to which all things are subject — all crea- 
tions, all worlds, moral, material, and divine. Accord- 
ing to this law absolute unity, in its infinite fecundity, 
perpetually produces diversity, which as perpetually re- 
turns to its prolific source, the bosom of God, which is 
absolute unity. 

Considered as the Father, God draws from himself 
eternally the Son by way of generation, and the Holy 
Ghost by way of procession, and thus the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Spirit eternally constitute the divine 
diversity. The Son and the Holy Spirit are eternally 
identical with the Father, and eternally constitute with 
him an indestructible unity. 

Considered as creator, God brought things out of 
nothing by an act of his will, and established in this 
way a physical diversity. He afterward subjected all 
things to certain eternal laws and to an immutable order, 
and in this way diversity in the physical world was only 
the exterior manifestation of absolute unity. 

Considered as Lord and legislator, God conferred 



158 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



upon man and the angels a liberty different from his 
own liberty, and in this manner constituted diversity in 
the moral world. He afterward subjected this liberty 
to certain inviolable laws and a necessary limit; and the 
necessity of this limit and the inviolability of these 
laws caused the angelical and human liberty to enter 
into the vast unity of his marvelous designs. 

The divine will, which is absolute unity, is shown in 
the precept given to Adam in paradise, when God said 
to him, "Thou shalt not eat." Human liberty, with 
the imperfection annexed to it, the power of choosing, 
which is diversity, is set forth in the condition, "and if 
thou shalt eat." Finally, we behold diversity return to 
the unity from which it proceeds: first in the menace 
made by God to man when he says, ''thou shalt die the 
death;" and then in the promise made to our first pa- 
rents, when God announces to the woman that she 
should give birth to One who would crush the serpent's 
head. By means of this promise and threat God pro- 
claims the two ways by which diversity, which proceeds 
from unity, returns to this unity — the way of his jus- 
tice and that of his mercy. 

If the prohibition enjoined upon man is suppressed, 
the exterior manifestation of absolute unity is de- 
stroyed. 

If the condition annexed to the prohibition is sup- 
pressed, the exterior manifestation of diversity, which 
is human liberty, is destroyed. 

If both the menace and the promise are suppressed, 
you destroy the ways by which diversity, in order not to 
be subversive, returns to the unity from whence it pro- 
ceeds. 

As union between the physical creation and the Cre- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



159 



ator consists in the eternal subjection of this creation 
to fixed and immutable laws, which are the perpetual 
manifestation of his sovereign will, so there is no union 
between God and man except that man, who is separated 
from God by sin, returns to him, either as impenitent 
to experience his justice, or as purified to enjoy his 
mercy. 

If, after having attentively and separately considered 
the angelical and human prevarications, and found them 
to be each a perturbation by accident, but in essence a 
harmony, we consider both prevarications at the same 
time, we shall behold with admiration the manner in 
which their harsh dissonances are changed into marvel- 
ous accords by the irresistible power of the divine Thau- 
ma turgus. 

YTe must here observe, before proceeding further, 
that all the beauty of creation consists in the fact that 
each thing is, in itself, as a reflection of some one of the 
divine perfections; so that all united present a faithful 
likeness of his sovereign beauty. From the splendid 
orb which illumines space to the humble lily that lies 
unnoted in the valley, and from the most obscure depths 
of the valleys that are adorned with lilies to the height 
of the heavens, resplendent with worlds, all creatures, 
each in its own manner, recount, one to the other, the 
wonders of the Lord, and they altogether attest his in- 
effable perfections, and sing in an endless canticle his 
excellence and glory. The heavens show forth his om- 
nipotence, the seas his grandeur, the earth his fecun- 
dity, and the stupendous masses of clouds figure to us 
the footstool of his throne. The lightning is his will, 
the thunder-bolt his voice. He broods in sublime silence 
over the abyss, and the impetuous hurricane and tern- 



160 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



pestuous whirlwind declare the terrors of his wrath. 
' Tis he that has adorned us, proclaim the flowers of 
the field ; and the heavens declare, 'tis he that has given 
us our brilliant expanse; the stars cry out, we are as 
jewels fallen from his splendid vestment; and men and 
angels bear witness that, in passing before them, he left 
engraven upon them his most beauteous, glorious, and 
perfect image. In this way certain things in creation 
represented the grandeur of God, others his majesty, 
others again his omnipotence, and, above all, men and 
angels represented the treasures of his goodness, the 
marvels of his grace, and the splendor of his beauty. 
But God is not only perfect and wonderful in beauty, 
grace, goodness, and omnipotence; he is moreover, 
and above all these things, if his perfections could be 
measured, infinitely just and infinitely merciful. It 
follows from this that the supreme act of creation could 
not be considered as consummated and perfected, until 
after having realized, in all their various manifestations, 
his infinite justice and infinite mercy. And as God 
could not exercise that special mercy and justice which 
are applied to the guilty without the prevarication of 
intelligent and free beings, it follows that this prevari- 
cation itself was the occasion of the grandest of all har- 
monies and the most beautiful of all consonances. 

After the prevarication of intelligent and free beings, 
God shone in the midst of creation with a new and 
greater splendor. The universe in general was the 
perfect reflection of his omnipotence ; the terrestrial 
paradise especially exhibited his grace, the heavens his 
mercy; hell alone reflected his justice; while the earth, 
placed between these two poles of creation, mirrored at 
the same time his justice and mercy. When, through 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



161 



the angelical and human prevarication, all the perfec- 
tions of Grod found an exterior manifestation, except 
that perfection which was to be manifested on Calvary, 
then order was restored. 

The deeper we investigate these fearful dogmas, the 
more conspicuous we find the supreme agreement, the 
perfect connection, and the marvelous consonance exist- 
ing between all the Christian mysteries. The science of 
mysteries, if we carefully reflect upon it, is simply the 
science by which all things are solved. 



CHAPTER Till. 

Solutions of the liberal school relative to these problems. 

Before concluding this book, we shall examine the 
opinions of the liberal and socialist schools, with regard 
to good and evil, and respecting God and man — fearful 
questions, which greatly embarrass human reason when 
it undertakes to solve the great problems relating to 
religion, politics, and society. 

As regards the liberal school, I shall simply say of it 
that in its arrogant ignorance it despises theology; not 
that this school is not theological in its own way, but 
because it is so without knowing it. This school has 
never been able to perceive, and probably never will 
perceive, the close tie that binds together things human 
and divine, the affinity that political questions bear to 
social and religious questions, and the dependence of all 
problems respecting the government of nations, upon 

15 



162 ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 

those other problems which relate to God as the supreme 
legislator of all human associations. 

The liberal school is the only one which has no theo- 
logian among its doctors and masters. The absolutists 
have had their theologians, and have more than once 
elevated them to the dignity of rulers over the people, 
and under their government the people increased in 
consequence and power. France will never forget the 
administration of Cardinal Richelieu, whose name is one 
of the most famous and glorious among the illustrious of 
the French monarchy. The renown of the great cardi- 
nal surpasses that of many kings ; nor was its splendor 
in the least diminished by the accession to the throne of 
that powerful and glorious monarch, whom France with 
enthusiasm, and Europe in admiration, called the Great. 
Ximenes, of Cisneros, and Alberoni, the two greatest 
ministers of the Spanish monarchy, were both cardinals 
and theologians. The name of Ximenes will forever be 
associated with that of the most illustrious queen and 
the most celebrated woman of Spain, so famous among 
nations for its remarkable women and illustrious queens. 
Alberoni is considered great in Europe, for the grandeur 
of his plans and for the penetration and sagacity of his 
prodigious genius. Ximenes, born in those happy days 
when the noble acts of this nation raised it above the 
dignity of history and elevated it to the majesty and 
grandeur of the epic, directed the great vessel of state 
with a firm hand, and silencing the turbulence of the 
crew, conducted it through stormy seas into more tran- 
quil and serene waters, where both vessel and pilot found 
a peaceful repose and uninterrupted prosperity. Albe- 
roni appeared in those unfortunate times when the great- 
ness of the Spanish monarchy was already on the decline, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



163 



and yet he almost reinstated it in its former degree of 
dignity and power, causing it to have a considerable 
weight in the political balance of European nations. 

The knowledge of God imparts to its possessor both 
sagacity and strength, since it not only quickens the 
mind but also expands it. What strikes me as most 
remarkable in the lives of the saints, and especially in 
the lives of the Fathers of the Desert, is something that 
has not yet been fully appreciated. I know of no man, 
who is in the habit of conversing with God, and accus- 
tomed to the contemplation of divine things, who, cir- 
cumstances being equal, is not superior to other men, 
either by the extent of his genius, the solidity of his 
judgment, or the penetration and acumen of his intel- 
lect, and, above all, by that superior and practical 
prudence which men call good sense. 

If mankind were not irremissibly condemned to take 
a distorted view of things, they would select theologians 
from among men as counselors, and among theologians 
they would select the mystics, and among the mystics 
those who have lived most remote from the affairs of the 
world. Among the persons whom I know, and I know 
very many, the only ones in whom I have recognized an 
imperturbable good sense, an eminent sagacity, and a 
wonderful aptitude for the practical and prudent solu- 
tion of the most intricate problems, and for the discovery 
of the best manner of escaping from the most perplexing 
complications, are those men who have lived a retired 
and contemplative life ; while, on the contrary, I have 
never met, and I never expect to meet, among those per- 
sons who are called business men, who hold in contempt 
all intellectual occupations, and especially disdain all 
attention to spiritual contemplations, those who are 



164 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



capable of understanding any affair whatever. To this 
very numerous class belong those whose constant at- 
tempt is to deceive others, but who always finish by 
falling victims to their own snares. This is a fact, 
which strikingly displays the profoundness of the judg- 
ments of God, because if God had not condemned to 
incapacity those who disdain and ignore him ; or if he 
had not placed a limit to the virtue of those who have a 
remarkable degree of sagacity, society could not have 
resisted either the sagacity of one class or the malice of 
the other. The virtue of contemplative men, and the 
stupidity of the clever, alone preserve the world in a 
state of perfect equilibrium. There is only one being 
in creation who unites in himself all the sagacity of 
spiritual and contemplative natures, and all the malice 
of those who ignore and despise God and spiritual con- 
templations — this being is the devil. The devil has the 
sagacity of the former without their virtue, and the 
malice of the latter without their stupidity, and his 
destructive force and immense power come precisely 
from this combination. 

As to the liberal school, considered in general, it is 
not theological, except in the degree in which all schools 
are necessarily so. It makes no explicit declaration of 
faith, nor does it attempt to define its opinions respect- 
ing God and man, good and evil, or the order and dis- 
order in which all creation is placed ; but it boasts, on 
the contrary, that it holds these high speculations in 
contempt. We may nevertheless affirm of this school, 
that it believes in an abstract and indolent god, who is 
assisted by the philosopher in the direction of human 
affairs, and by certain law^s which he instituted from 
the beginning for the universal government of things* 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



165 



Although this school views God as the king of creation, 
yet it supposes him to remain perpetually and sublimely 
ignorant of the manner in which his kingdom is gov- 
erned and conducted; and that when he appointed those 
who were to govern in his name, he gave them the pleni- 
tude of his sovereignty, and declared this gift to be per- 
petual and inviolable; therefore reverence is due to God 
from the people, but not obedience. 

As to evil, the liberal school denies its existence in 
physical things, but concedes that it exists in human 
affairs. In this school, all questions relative to good or 
evil resolve themselves into questions of government, 
and all questions respecting government into questions 
of legitimacy ; so that the existence of evil is impossible 
when a government is legitimate, and evil is inevitable 
when a government is illegitimate ; therefore the ques- 
tion of good and evil is reduced to the inquiry, What 
governments are legitimate and what are illegitimate? 

The liberal school calls those governments legitimate 
which are established by God, and those illegitimate 
which are not founded on a divinely delegated right. 
According to it, God has willed that material things 
should be subject to certain physical laws, which he 
established from the beginning, once for all ; and that 
societies should be governed by reason, which is incar- 
nated in a general manner in the upper classes, and in 
a special manner in the philosophers who instruct and 
direct them; so that it follows, as a necessary conse- 
quence, that there are only two legitimate governments, 
that of human reason, as embodied in a general manner 
in the middle classes, and in a special manner in the 
philosophers, and the government of divine reason, as 

15* 



166 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



perpetually embodied in certain laws to which material 
things are from the beginning subject. 

It will undoubtedly surprise my readers, and particu- 
larly those of the liberal school, that I should trace the 
liberal doctrine of legitimacy to the divine right, and 
yet nothing appears to me more evident. The liberal 
school is not atheistical in its dogmas, although, from 
its not being Catholic, it is led without knowing or even 
without wishing it, from consequence to consequence, up 
to the confines of atheism. Recognizing the existence 
of a God, the creator of every creature, it cannot deny 
to the God that it recognizes and affirms, the original 
plenitude of all rights ; or, what in the language of the 
school is the same thing, the constituent sovereignty. 

He is Catholic, who recognizes in God both a con- 
stituent and an actual sovereignty; and he is a deist, 
who denies that God has an actual sovereignty, and only 
recognizes that He possesses a constituent sovereignty; 
and he is an atheist, who denies to God all sovereignty, 
because he denies the existence of God. This being so, 
the liberal school, in so far as deistical, cannot proclaim 
the actual sovereignty of reason, without at the same 
time proclaiming the constituent sovereignty of God, 
from which the former, which is always delegated, has 
its principle and origin. The theory of the constituent 
sovereignty of the people is an atheistical theory, not 
taught by the liberal school, except as atheism is in 
deism, that is to say, as a remote but inevitable conse- 
quence. Hence proceed the two great divisions of the 
liberal school — the democratic, and the liberal, properly 
so called. The first is more consistent, and the second 
more timid. Democratic liberalism, forced by an inflex- 
ible logic, has, like the river flowing onward and lost in 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



167 



the sea, become merged at the present day in those 
schools which are at the same time atheistical and social- 
istic. The liberal school, properly so called, struggles 
to be at rest on the eminence which it has attained, 
where it is placed between two seas, whose constantly 
advancing waves will finally overwhelm it, between so- 
cialism and Catholicism. We at present speak only of 
this division of the liberal school, and we assert of it 
that, as it cannot admit the constituent sovereignty of 
the people without becoming democratic, socialistic, and 
atheistic, nor admit the actual sovereignty of God with- 
out becoming monarchical and Catholic, it admits on the 
one side the original sovereignty of God, and on the 
other the actual sovereignty of human reason. It will 
therefore be perceived that we were right in affirming 
that the liberal school does not proclaim the human 
right, except as originally derived from the divine 
right. 

This school admits no other evil than that which pro- 
ceeds from the transferring of government from the 
place in which God established it from the beginning of 
time; and as material things always remain subject to 
the physical laws which were contemporaneous with the 
creation, the liberal school denies evil in the universality 
of things ; but, as it happens that the government of 
societies is not something certain and fixed with the 
philosophic dynasties, which by divine appointment pos- 
sess the exclusive right to govern human affairs, the 
liberal school admits evil in society, whenever the gov- 
erning power passes out of the hands of the philosophers 
or the middle classes, and is exercised by kings or the 
lower classes. 

Of all the schools this is the most unsatisfactory, be- 



168 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



cause it is the least learned and the most egotistical. 
As we have seen, it knows nothing of the nature of good 
or evil; it has scarcely an idea of God, and none respect- 
ing man. Impotent for good, because it is destitute of 
all dogmatical affirmations, and for evil, because it de- 
tests all bold and absolute negations, it is condemned, 
without knowing it, eventually to take refuge either in 
the haven of Catholicism, or to be driven upon the hid- 
den rocks of socialism. This school is only dominant 
when society is threatened with dissolution, and the 
moment of its authority is that transitory and fugitive 
one, in which the world stands doubting between Barab- 
bas and Jesus, and hesitates between a dogmatical affirm- 
ation and a supreme negation. At such a time, society 
willingly allows itself to be governed by a school which 
never affirms nor denies, but is always making distinc- 
tions. It is essential to this school to repress alike all 
supreme affirmations and all radical negations, and thus, 
by means of discussion, it confounds all ideas and propa- 
gates skepticism ; knowing well that a people who per- 
petually hear from the lips of its sophists the pro and 
con of everything, must finish by not knowing what to 
believe, and by asking themselves whether truth and 
error, justice and injustice, bad and good, are really 
antagonistic to each other, or if they are only the same 
thing, viewed under different aspects. Such periods of 
agonizing doubt can never last any great length of time, 
however prolonged their duration may appear. Man 
was born to act, and unceasing discussion is contra- 
dictory to human nature, inasmuch as it is incompatible 
with action. The repressed instincts of the people will 
soon reassert their sway, and they will resolutely de- 
clare either for Barabbas or Jesus, and overturn all that 
the sophists have attempted to establish. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



169 



The socialist schools, considered theoretically, as they 
appear in the writings of their doctors and masters, and 
apart from the vulgar who follow them, possess great 
advantages over the liberal school, precisely because 
they approach directly all great problems and ques- 
tions, and always give a peremptory and decisive solu- 
tion. The strength of socialism consists in its being 
a system of theology, and it is destructive only because 
it is a satanic theology. 

The socialist schools, as they are theological, will pre- 
vail over the liberal, because the latter are antitheolog- 
ical and skeptical. But they themselves, on account of 
their satanic element, will be vanquished by the Catholic 
school, which is at the same time theological and divine. 
The instincts of socialism would seem to agree with our 
affirmations, since it hates Catholicism, while it simply 
despises liberalism. 

Democratic socialism has reason to ask liberalism : 
"What manner of God is this that you propose to my 
adoration, who must assuredly be inferior to you, since 
he has neither will, nor even a personality? I deny 
the existence of a Catholic God ; but while I deny 
it, I can conceive it. That which I cannot imagine, is 
a God without the divine attributes. Everything in- 
clines me to believe that, if you admit the existence of 
God, it is in order that you may receive through him 
the legitimacy which you do not of yourself possess. 
Your legitimacy and your existence are a fiction based 
upon a fiction, and a shadow resting on a shadow. My 
mission is to dissipate all shadows, and to put an end to 
fictions. The distinction between the actual and the 
constituent authority has every appearance of being 
invented by those who, not daring to claim both, desire 



170 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



at least to usurp one. The sovereign must be as God ; 
either he is one, or he can have no existence. The 
sovereignty must be as the Divinity; either it does not 
exist, or it is indivisible and incommunicable. In the 
two words, the legitimacy of reason, the last designates 
the subject, and the first the attribute. I deny both 
the attribute and the subject. What is legitimacy, and 
what is reason ? And if it is admitted that they mean 
anything, how do you know whether they are to be 
found in liberalism and not in socialism, in you and not 
in me, in the middle classes and not in the people ? I 
deny your legitimacy and you deny mine; you deny my 
reason and I deny yours. When you provoke me to 
discussion, I pardon you, because you know not what 
you do. Discussion, the universal dissolvent, whose 
secret virtue you do not understand, has destroyed your 
adversaries, and will destroy yourself. As to me, I am 
resolved not to tolerate it, for if I do not suppress it, it 
will turn against me. Discussion is a spiritual sword, 
which turns the mind with bandaged eyes, and against 
its power neither dexterity nor an armor of steel avails. 
Death assumes the guise of discussion when it desires to 
remain concealed and unrecognized. Rome was too wise 
to be thus deceived, and when it entered her gates under 
the mask of a sophist, she saw the disguise, and hastened 
to dismiss it. According to Catholic doctrine, man fell 
only because he entered into an argument with the 
woman, and the woman fell because she listened to the 
devil ; and later, in the midway of time, this same 
demon, it is said, appeared to Jesus in a desert, and 
attempted to provoke him to a spiritual contest, or, as 
we would express it, to a tribunal discussion. But here 
we find that the devil met a more prudent adversary, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



171 



whose reply was, 'Begone, Satan!' which put an end at 
once to the temptation and to the diabolical illusions. 
It must be confessed that the Catholics have a special 
gift of exhibiting great truths in a clear light, and pre- 
senting them under the form of ingenious fictions. All 
antiquity would have condemned the stupidity of any 
man who would publicly discuss at the same time things 
human and divine, religious and social institutions, the 
authorities and the gods. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle 
would have united in passing a sentence of condemna- 
tion against such a person, and the cynics and sophists 
would have been his only champions. 

"As regards evil, it either exists throughout creation 
or not at all. Forms of government have little power 
to produce it. If society is sound and well constituted, 
it is capable of resisting all possible forms of govern- 
ment. If it cannot do this, it is because it is badly 
constituted and diseased. We cannot conceive evil, save 
as an organic vice of society, or as a radical vice of 
human nature, and in this case the remedy is not to 
change the government, but to alter the social organism 
or the constitution of man." 

The fundamental error of liberalism is, that it con- 
siders questions of government as alone important, when 
they are in reality of no consequence whatever, com- 
pared to those of religious and social order. This helps 
to explain why liberalism is always and everywhere 
entirely eclipsed, from the moment that Catholics and 
socialists announce their tremendous problems and their 
contradictory solutions. When Catholicism affirms that 
evil comes from sin, that sin in the first man corrupted 
human nature, yet, nevertheless, good prevails over evil, 
and order over disorder, because the one is human and 



172 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



the other divine — there is no doubt that this doctrine, 
even before investigation, is satisfactory to reason, be- 
cause it proportions the grandeur of the causes to that 
of the effects, and proposes an explanation equal to the 
question that is to be explained. When socialism affirms 
that man's nature is perfect, and that society is sick ; 
when it places the former in open conflict with the latter, 
in order that the good which is in man may extirpate 
the evil that is in society ; when it calls upon humanity 
to rise in rebellion against all social institutions, there is 
undoubtedly in this mode of presenting and explaining 
a question, false as it is, much that in dignity and 
grandeur is worthy of the terrible majesty of the sub- 
ject. But when liberalism explains good and evil, order 
and disorder, by the diversity of governmental forms, 
which are all ephemeral and transitory; when, setting 
aside all social and religious problems, it discusses its 
political problems as alone worthy the serious considera- 
tion of a statesman, truly words fail to express our 
sentiments of the profound incapacity and radical in- 
competency of this school, we will not say to solve, but 
even to present these formidable questions. 

The liberal school, fearing at the same time both light 
and darkness, has chosen an uncertain twilight between 
the luminous and opaque regions, between eternal shade 
and heavenly light. Placed in this nameless region, it 
has undertaken to govern without a people and without 
God ; an extravagant and impossible attempt. Its days 
are numbered, because we see God appearing at one 
point of the horizon, and at the other the people. On 
the terrible day of battle, when the entire field will be 
covered with Catholic and socialist combatants, no one 
will know where to find this school of liberalism. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



173 



CHAPTER IX. 

Socialist solutions. 

The socialist schools are greatly superior to the lib- 
eral school, both as to the nature of the problems which 
they propose to solve and in their mode of presenting 
and explaining them. Their masters evince a familiar- 
ity, up to a certain point, with those bold speculations 
which refer to God and his nature, man and his consti- 
tution, society and its institutions, the universe and its 
laws. This propensity to generalize everything, to con- 
sider things in their ensemble, and to observe general 
dissonances and harmonies, gives them a greater apti- 
tude to enter and to escape from the intricate labyrinth 
of the rationalistic logic without losing themselves. If, 
in the great contest which holds the world as it were 
in suspense, there were no other disputants than the 
socialists and liberalists, the battle would not last long, 
nor would the victory be doubtful. 

All the socialist schools are, in a philosophical point 
of view, rationalistic ; under a political aspect, repub- 
lican ; and under a religious aspect, atheistical. They 
resemble the liberal school in their elements of rational- 
ism, and differ from this school in so far as they are 
atheistical and republican. The question, then, consists 
in investigating whether rationalism logically ends where 
the liberal school does, or proceeds as far as the socialist 
school. We shall defer the examination of this ques- 

16 



174 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



tion in its political aspect, and shall at present consider 
it especially under its religious aspect. 

Considered in this aspect, it is clear that the system 
which concedes to reason a universal ability to solve of 
itself, and unaided by God, all questions respecting the 
political, religious, social, and human order, supposes 
reason to possess a complete sovereignty and an abso- 
lute independence. This system simultaneously involves 
three negations — namely, the negation of revelation, the 
negation of grace, and the negation of providence. It 
implies that of revelation, because revelation contradicts 
the universal adequacy of human reason; that of grace, 
because grace denies its absolute independence ; that of 
providence, because providence likewise denies its inde- 
pendent sovereignty. But these three negations, atten- 
tively considered, form but one — the negation of every 
tie which binds God and man — because if man is not 
united to God by revelation, by providence, and by grace, 
he is not united to Him in any way whatever. 

Now, to affirm this absolute separation between God 
and man, is to deny God. To dogmatically affirm the 
existence of God, after having dogmatically despoiled 
him of all his attributes, is an inconsistency reserved 
for the liberal school, which is the most contradictory of 
all the rationalistic schools. This inconsistency, how- 
ever, far from being accidental, is essential in that school, 
which, in whatever light we regard it, is an extravagant 
assemblage of evident contradictions. Its contradictions 
in regard to God in the religious order, are also exhib- 
ited in the political order, in reference to the people and 
their rulers. The office of this school is to proclaim the 
existences which it annuls, and to annul the existences 
which it proclaims. Each one of its principles is asso- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



175 



ciated with another contradictory to it, which destroys 
it. Thus, for example, it proclaims a monarchy, and at 
the same time a ministerial responsibility; 'and, as a 
consequence, the omnipotence of the minister, who is 
made responsible, which is the negation of the mon- 
archy. It proclaims ministerial omnipotence, and at 
the same time a supreme right of intervention on the 
part of deliberative assemblies in the affairs of govern- 
ment, which is incompatible with the omnipotence of the 
ministry. It proclaims that political assemblies have 
the right of supreme intervention in affairs of state, and 
at the same time it accords to electoral colleges the right 
of deciding matters, which is in contradiction with the 
supreme intervention of political assemblies. It invests 
the electors with a supreme right of arbitration, and at 
the same time it recognizes, more or less explicitly, the 
supreme right of revolution, which is subversive of that 
pacific and supreme right of arbitration. It asserts the 
right of revolution as belonging to the people, by which 
it affirms their sovereign omnipotence ; and at the same 
time it asserts the law of the electoral census, which is 
virtually to ostracize the sovereignty of the people. And 
with all these principles, and their counter-principles, it 
has only one object in view, and that is to produce and 
maintain, by industry and artifice, an equilibrium which 
it never can attain, because this is opposed to the nature 
of society and the nature of man. 

There is only one power against which the liberal 
school has not sought a counterpoise, and this is the 
power of corruption. Corruption is the god of this 
school, and like God, is everywhere at the same time. 
To such a degree is it the controlling element in the 
liberal school that, wherever this school prevails, all 



176 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



must forcibly be either corrupters or corrupted; be- 
cause, where every man can aspire to become Cesar, or 
by his vote to create Cesar, or by his approval to con- 
firm the power of Cesar, there all men must either be 
Cesars or pretors. Therefore, every society which falls 
under the domination of this school dies the same death 
— they all die of gangrene. Kings corrupt their minis- 
ters, promising them a permanence of power ; and the 
ministers corrupt the kings, promising to augment their 
prerogatives ; and they also pervert the representatives 
of the people, by placing at their disposal all the state 
preferments, to gain which the assemblies give their 
votes to the ministers. The elected traffic with their 
power, the electors with their influence. All combine 
to bribe the people with their promises, and the people, 
in turn, intimidate every one by their clamors and 
threats. 

To resume the thread of this argument — when the 
socialist schools deny the existence of God, which the 
liberal school affirms, they are more logical and consist- 
ent than the liberal school; yet they are far from being 
as consistent within their limits as the Catholic school 
is with itself. The Catholic school affirms the existence 
of God, and all his attributes, with a dogmatical and 
supreme affirmation. The socialists, on the contrary, 
although in reality they deny God, do not deny him in 
the same way, or for the same reasons, nor do they deny 
him boldly. The reason is this, that the most intrepid 
man is seized with terror when he seeks to affirm posi- 
tively that there is no God, It would seem as if man 
feared that, if he made such an assertion, he would be de- 
prived of the power ever to utter another word, and that 
such a blasphemy would cause the heavens to fall upon 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 177 



and crush the blasphemer. Thus we hear some deny 
God by saying, all that exists is God, and God is all 
that exists ; while others affirm that God and humanity 
are identical. Among these, some maintain that there 
is in humanity a dualism of contrary forces and ener- 
gies, and that man is the representative of this dualism. 
Those who entertain this opinion distinguish in man the 
reflective forces and the spontaneous energies. Accord- 
ing to them, true humanity resides in the first, and true 
divinity in the second. By this system, God is neither 
all that exists nor humanity; he is but the half of man. 
Others think differently, and deny that God is man or a 
part of man, that he is humanity, or that he is the uni- 
verse ; but they are disposed to believe that he is a being 
who is manifested in various and successive incarna- 
tions, and wherever there is a great influence or a mag- 
nificent domination, there God is incarnated. God was 
incarnated in Cesar, and in Charles the Great, and in 
Napoleon. He was successively incarnated in the great 
Asiatic empires, and also in the Macedonian and Roman. 
At first he was the Orient, and afterward he was the 
Occident. The world experienced a change in each of 
these divine incarnations, and advanced a step in the 
path of progress each time that it changed, in conse- 
quence of a new incarnation. 

All these antagonistic and absurd systems are em- 
bodied in a man who has appeared in the world, in these 
latter days, as the personification of all the inconsist- 
encies of rationalism. This man is Mr. Proudhon, whom 
we have already noticed, and to whom we shall fre- 
quently allude in the course of this work. Mr. Proud- 
hon is esteemed the most learned and consistent of the 
modern socialists ; and as regards erudition, he is cer- 

16* 



178 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



tainly superior to almost all contemporary rationalists. 
As to his consistency, the reader will be enabled to form 
some idea of it from the passages which we are about to 
quote from his writings, in which he treats of the subjects 
discussed in this book. 

In the Confessions of a Revolutionist, Mr. Proudhon 
thus defines God : " God is the universal force, and is 
penetrated with intelligence, which produces, through an 
infinite knowledge of itself, the beings of all kingdoms, 
from the imponderable fluid up to man, and which only 
in man acquires a knowledge of self, and says — I am. 
God, far from being our master, is the object of our 
study. How can the thaumaturgists have had the 
audacity to convert him into a personal being, who is 
at times an absolute king, like the God of the Jews and 
Christians ; and at other times a constitutional sover- 
eign, like the God of the deists, whose incomprehensible 
providence over us appears to be perpetually and solely 
exercised, both by his precepts and acts, in confounding 
our reason?" Here Mr. Proudhon has affirmed three 
things: first, the assertion of a universal, intelligent, 
and divine force, which is pantheism ; second, a higher 
incarnation of God in humanity, which is humanitarian- 
ism ; third, the negation of a personal God, and of his 
providence, which results in deism. 

In the work w r hich is entitled The System of Eco- 
nomic Contradictions, ch. viii., Mr. Proudhon says: "I 
shall set aside the pantheistic hypothesis, which has 
always appeared to me either hypocritical or cowardly. 
God is personal, or he does not exist." Here he affirms 
all that he denies, and denies all that he affirms in the 
preceding sentences. These affirm a pantheistical and 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



179 



impersonal God ; while here are denied, as equally 
absurd, both the impersonality of God and pantheism. 

Further on in this chapter, he adds: "The true rem- 
edy against fanaticism is not, it appears to me, in iden- 
tifying humanity with the Divinity, which is nothing 
else than affirming communism in political economy, 
and mysticism and the statu quo in philosophy. The 
true remedy is to prove to humanity that God, if he 
exists, is its enemy." We here see that, after having 
denied pantheism and an impersonal God, Mr. Proudhon 
also denies humanism, as contained in his definition. 
On the other hand, his theory of a rivalry between God 
and man, which we have already noticed in a former 
chapter of this book, begins here to assume a concrete 
form. 

He asserts this theory, and also the condemnation of 
humanitarianism, still more clearly in the ninth chapter 
of the same book, where he says : "For my part, and I 
regret to confess it, for I feel that such a declaration 
separates me from the most intelligent among the so- 
cialists, the more I reflect upon it the more I find it 
impossible to believe in this deification of our species, 
which, attentively considered, is nothing else, among the 
atheists of our day, than the expiring echo of religious 
terrors, which, re-establishing and consecrating mysti- 
cism under the name of humanism, replaces the sciences 
under the sway of prejudice, subjects the moral world 
to the authority of custom, and the social economy to 
the rule of communism, or, what is the same thing, 
atony and misery; and finally, it even subjects logic to 
the domination of the absurd and the absolute ; and, as 
I find myself compelled to repudiate . • . this new 
religion, together with those which have preceded it, I 



180 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



must also receive as plausible the hypothesis of an infi- 
nite being . . . against which I must struggle even 
unto death ; for this is my destiny, even as it is that of 
Israel to contend against Jehovah." 

Nothing here remains of the previously given defini- 
tion of God, except the negation of providence, and even 
this negation disappears with this contradictory affirma- 
tion : " We are thus conducted by chance, when guided 
by Providence, which never warns save when it strikes 
us."* 

In the foregoing paragraphs, we perceive that Mr. 
Proudhon goes through all the gradations of rational- 
istic contradictions, and is successively pantheist, hu- 
manist, and manicheist. He professes to believe in an 
impersonal God, and then declares as monstrous and 
absurd the idea of a God, unless the God conceived 
is personal ; and finally, he affirms and denies Provi- 
dence at the same time. Nor is this all. We have seen, 
in one of the preceding chapters, in what manner the 
manichean theory of a rivalry between God and man 
makes man, according to the system of Proudhon, the 
representative of good, and God the representative of 
evil. We shall now see in what way, according to Mr. 
Proudhon, this same system falls to the ground. 

In the second chapter of the work already cited, he 
makes use of the following language: " Either nature or 
the Deity has mistrusted our hearts, and has doubted 
the love of man for his fellow-creatures. All the dis- 
coveries of science respecting the designs of Providence 
in social progress, and I say it with shame for the 
human conscience, (but our hypocrisy must know it,) 



* System of Contradictions, chap. iii. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



181 



prove the profound hatred of Grod for mankind. God 
does not aid us through kindness, but because order 
constitutes his essence. If he seeks the welfare of 
mankind, it is not because he deems them worthy of 
benefits, but because he is compelled to do so by the 
religion of his supreme wisdom. While the vulgar give 
him the tender appellation of Father, neither the his- 
torian nor the political economist can discover any rea- 
son to believe in the possibility of our being the objects 
either of his esteem or of his love." 

These words are a refutation of the manicheism of 
Proudhon. Man is not the rival, but the despised slave 
of God; he is neither good nor evil, but a creature gov- 
erned by those gross and servile instincts which in slaves 
engender servitude. God is an indescribable combina- 
tion of severe, inflexible, and mathematical laws. He 
does good without being good, and his misanthropy 
shows that he would be evil if his nature permitted it. 
The Proudhonian God in this bears an evident resem- 
blance to the Fatum of the ancients. Fatalism is still 
more clearlv manifested in the following words: — 

" Having arrived at the second station of our Cal- 
vary, instead of occupying ourselves with sterile con- 
templations, it is best for us to attend more closely to 
the teachings of fate. The pledge of our liberty is 
altogether in the progress of our punishment." 

After fatalism comes atheism. "What is God? 
Where is he? How many Gods are there? What does 
God desire? What is the extent of his power? What 
promises does he make us? If we undertake to inves- 
tigate all these things by the light of analysis, all the 
divinities of earth, heaven, and hell are immediately re- 
duced to I know not what ; that is, incorporeal, impos- 



182 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM. 



Bible, immovable, incomprehensible, indefinable ; in a 
word, to a negation of all the attributes of existence. 
In fact, whether man invests every object with a special 
mind or spirit, or conceives the universe as governed by 
one only power, he simply asserts by either of these 
propositions an unconditional — that is to say, an impos- 
sible — entity, in order to give an explanation more or 
less satisfactory of phenomena which he deems to be 
otherwise incomprehensible. What a high and profound 
mystery ! The believer, in order to make the object of his 
idolatry more rational, successively depi'ives it of every 
attribute which could constitute its reality; and then, 
after prodigious efforts of logic and talent, finally dis- 
covers that the attributes of the Supreme Being are 
identified with those of nothing. This result is inevi- 
table: atheism is at the foundation of all theodicy."* 

The atheist, having once arrived at this extreme con- 
clusion, and plunged into this dark abyss, seems as if 
possessed by furies. His heart is filled with blasphemies 
which oppress his utterance and burn upon his lips; and 
when he would impiously pile up these blasphemies like 
a pyramid, raising them one upon the other, even to the 
throne of God, he sees with terror that, overcome by 
their own specific weight, instead of soaring to heavenly 
heights, they fall flatly and heavily into the abyss which 
is their center. Every word and expression then be- 
comes replete with sarcasm and contempt, with vulgarity 
and frenzied wrath. His style is at once forcible and 
heavy, eloquent, although cynically coarse. He ex- 
claims : " Why adore this phantom of a Deity? And 
what does he require of us by that band of enthusiasts 



* System of Contradictions — Prologue. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



183 



who, on all sides, persecute us with their sermons ?"* 
And further on he makes these cynical remarks : " God ! 
I do not acknowledge any God. God is, moreover, noth- 
ing but pure mysticism. If you wish us to listen to 
you, commence by banishing this word from your dis- 
course; because the experience of three thousand years 
teaches me that he who speaks to me of God would rob 
me of my liberty or my purse. How much do you owe 
me? How much do I owe you? This is my religion 
and my God."f Then, in a paroxysm of rage, he breaks 
forth into these words: "This I say: the first duty of 
an intelligent and free man is immediately to discard 
the idea of God both from his soul and his conscience; 
because God, if he exists, is essentially hostile to our 
nature, and we are in nothing dependent upon him. . . . 
By what right, moreover, could God say to me, be thou 
holy even as I am holy? Lying spirit! I would 
say to him in reply, imbecile God, thy sovereignty is 
already at an end; seek other victims among the brute 
creation. I know that I am not, neither can I ever 
become holy ; and how canst thou be so if thou and I 
resemble each other? Eternal Father, Jupiter or Jeho- 
vah, whatever thou wishest me to call thee, learn from 
me that we know thee. Thou art, thou wast, and thou 
wilt ever be the rival of Adam, the tyrant . of Prome- 
theus."! And further on, in the same chapter, he apos- 
trophizes the divinity that he denies, and says to him: 
"Thou dost triumph, and none dared contradict thee, 
when, after tormenting the just Job in soul and body, 
who was the type of our humanity, thou didst insult 



* System of Contradictions, chap. iii. 

f Ibid. chap. xi. J Chap. viii. 



184 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



his sincere piety and his discreet and respectful igno- 
rance. We were all as nothing in presence of thy invis- 
ible majesty, to whom we gave the heavens as a canopy 
and the earth as a footstool. The times are now changed, 
and we behold thee weakened and dethroned. Thy 
name, once the sum and substance of all wisdom, the 
only sanction of the judge, the sole authority of the 
priest, the hope of the poor, the refuge of the repent- 
ing sinner, — this incommunicable name has now become 
an object of execration and contempt, and will be hence- 
forth despised by all men. For God is but folly and 
timidity; God is but hypocrisy and deceit; God is but 
tyranny and misery; God is evil. So long as humanity 
lies prostrate before an altar the slave of kings and 
priests, it will continue condemned. While one man 
receives, in the name of God, the homage of other men, 
society will continue to be founded on perjury, and 
peace and love will be banished from the earth. With- 
draw from me, Jehovah; for henceforth, freed from 
the fear of God, and having attained true wisdom, I 
swear, with uplifted hand to heaven, that thou art only 
the tormentor of my reason and the specter of my con- 
science. " 

It is he who has said it: God is the specter of his 
conscience. No one can deny God without condemn- 
ing himself ; no one can fly from God without flying from 
himself. This unhappy being, although yet on earth, is 
already in hell; those violent and impotent muscular 
contractions, that morose frenzy, that insensate wrath, 
that furious and tempestuous rage, are in truth the con- 
tractions, the frenzy, the wrath, and the rage of the 
reprobate. Without charity and without faith, he has 
lost even that last good of man — hope. And yet, when 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



185 



he speaks of Catholicism, he sometimes feels in his soul, 
without knowing it, its serene and sanctifying influence. 
Then his martyrdom ceases, as if by enchantment; a 
gentle and refreshing breeze, sent from heaven, cools 
his fevered brow and calms the accesses of his epileptic 
convulsions. Then he blandly utters these words: "Ah, 
how much wiser has Catholicism showed itself, and what 
an advantage has it gained over all — over St. Simonians, 
republicans, universitarians, and economists — in the 
knowledge of society and of man! The priest knows 
that our life is only a pilgrimage, and that entire per- 
fection is denied us in this world ; and because he 
knows this he is satisfied to commence an education on 
earth which can be completed only in heaven. The 
man who has been trained by religion, satisfied with 
knowing, doing, and obtaining what is sufficient for this 
life, will never prove an obstacle to the powers of the 
earth; he would rather be a martyr. Oh, beloved reli- 
gion, by what inconceivable caprice of reason does it 
happen, that those w T ho need thee most are precisely 
those who most obstinately reject thee?" 

We have already cursorily alluded to the reputation 
of Mr. Prouclhon for consistency. It now seems not 
only proper, but likewise necessary, to say something 
further on this subject, which is of much greater conse- 
quence than would at first sight appear. The fact of 
his reputation is public and notorious, and for this very 
reason unquestionable. It is nevertheless altogether 
inexplicable, if we consider that Mr. Proudhon has suc- 
cessively adopted every system relating to the Divinity, 
and that there is no one among the socialists so given 
to contradictions as he is. We must admit, therefore, 
that his reputation for consistency is entirely unfounded. 

17 



186 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



By what subterraneous paths, by what concatenation of 
subtile and labored deductions has the world, in the face 
of the glaring inconsistency of Mr. Proudhon, agreed 
to call his contradictions by a term which is their very 
opposite, consistency ? Here is a great problem to be 
solved and a great mystery to be unraveled. 

The explanation of this problem, and the solving of 
this mystery, are found in the fact that the theories of 
Mr. Proudhon imply at the same time contradiction and 
consistency; the first being apparent and the second 
real. If we examine in succession the fragments that 
we have just quoted from his works, and consider them 
in themselves, and without taking a more general view, 
each one of them is the contradiction of that which pre- 
cedes and follows it, and all are in opposition to each 
other. But if we consider the rationalist theory, from 
which all have their origin, it will be seen that rational- 
ism is the sin that most resembles original sin, being, 
like it, an actual error, and the productive cause of all 
error. Consequently it embraces and comprehends in 
its vast unity all errors ; and contradictions form no im- 
pediment to this union, for even these antagonisms are 
susceptible of a certain kind of harmony and union, 
where there exists a supreme contradiction which in- 
volves them all. In the case in question, rationalism is 
this contradiction, which comprises all the others in its 
supreme unity. In fact, rationalism is at once deism, 
pantheism, humanism, manicheism, fatalism, skepticism, 
and atheism; and, among the rationalists, he who is at 
the same time deist, pantheist, humanist, manicheist, 
fatalist, skeptic, and atheist, is regarded as the most 
consistent. 

These considerations serve to explain the facts which 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



187 



we have noticed in this chapter, and which are appar- 
ently incongruous. They likewise satisfactorily explain 
why, in place of investigating, one by one, the various 
systems of the socialist doctors respecting the Divinity, 
we have preferred to consider them all as set forth in 
the writings of Mr. Proudhon, where we find them both 
in their diversity and in their connection. 

We have seen what the socialists think of Grod ; we 
shall now examine what they think of man, and in what 
manner they interpret the fearful problem of good and 
evil, considered in general, which forms the subject of 
this book. 



CHAPTER X. 

Continuation of the same subject— Conclusion of this book. 

No man has been so stupid as to dare deny the ex- 
istence of good and evil, and their coexistence in his- 
tory. Philosophers may dispute as to the mode and 
form under which good and evil exist, but all unani- 
mously affirm their existence and their coexistence in 
history as an established fact. All equally agree that, 
in the contest which is waged between good and evil, 
the former must ultimately gain the victory over the 
latter. Apart from these well established and admitted 
points, everything else is a subject of diverse opinions, 
contradictory systems, and interminable disputes. 

The liberal school holds it as certain, that there is no 
evil except that which results from the political institu- 



188 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



tions which we have inherited from past ages, and that 
the supreme good consists in the overthrow of these 
institutions. The greater number of socialists consider 
it as established, that there is no other evil than that 
which exists in society, and that the great remedy is to 
be found in the complete subversion of social institu- 
tions. All agree that evil is transmitted to us from past 
ages. The liberals affirm that good may be realized 
even in the present day ; and the socialists assert that 
this golden era cannot commence except in times yet to 
come. 

Thus, both the one and the other, placing the realiza- 
tion of the supreme good in the entire destruction of the 
present order — the political order, according to the lib- 
eral school, and the social order, according to the social- 
ist schools — they agree with regard to the real and 
intrinsic goodness of man, who, they contend, must 
necessarily be the intelligent and free agent in effecting 
this subversion. This conclusion has been explicitly 
announced by the socialist schools, and it is implicitly 
contained in the theory maintained by the liberals. 
The conclusion is so far maintained in this theory that, 
if you deny the conclusion, the theory itself must fall 
to the ground. In fact, the theory, according to which 
evil exists in man, and proceeds from man, contradicts 
that other theory, which supposes evil to exist in polit- 
ical and social institutions, and to proceed from them. 
If we adopt the first hypothesis, there would exist a 
logical necessity to commence by eradicating evil from 
the heart of man, in order to extirpate it from society 
and the state. If we adopt the second supposition, the 
logical consequence would be the necessity of commenc- 
ing by eradicating evil directly from society or the state, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 189 



where it has its center and origin. From which we see 
that the Catholic and rationalist theories are not only 
utterly incompatible, but likewise antagonistic. All sub- 
version, whether it be in the political or social order, is 
condemned by the Catholic theory as foolish and useless. 
The rationalist theories condemn all moral reform in 
man as stupid and of no avail. And thus, the ones as 
well as the others are consistent in their condemnation ; 
because, if evil neither exists in the state nor in society, 
why and wherefore require the overthrow of society and 
of the state ? And, on the contrary, if evil neither ex- 
ists in individuals nor proceeds from them, why and for 
what cause desire the interior reformation of man ? 

The socialist schools accept, without difficulty, the 
question proposed in this manner ; but the liberal school, 
not without grave reason, finds serious inconvenience in 
accepting it. In meeting the question as it presents 
itself naturally, the liberal school would be compelled 
to deny, with a radical negation, the Catholic theory, 
both in itself and in all its consequences ; and this is 
what it resolutely refuses to do. Adopting, at the same 
time, all principles and all their counter-principles, it 
does not wish to renounce either the one or the other, 
but is forever occupied in the attempt to reconcile all 
contradictory theories and human inconsistencies. Ac- 
cording fco this school moral reforms are not bad, although 
it views political revolutions as most salutary, without 
perceiving that these two things are incompatible, be- 
cause men who are interiorly purified cannot become the 
agents of subversion ; and such agents, by the very act 
of their being such, declare that they are not interiorly 
purified. In this matter, as in all others, a middle 
ground between Catholicism and socialism is altogether 

17* 



190 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



impossible, because, either man ought not to think of 
self-reformation, or revolutions ought not to take place ; 
for, if unreformed men assume the office of revolution- 
ists, then political ruin is only the prelude to social 
ruin ; while if men, in place of undertaking to over- 
throw the state, would attempt to reform themselves, 
then neither social nor political ruin would be possible. 
Thus, in either case, the liberal school is compelled to 
yield to the conclusions of the socialist or to those of 
the Catholic schools. 

Consequently, the socialist schools have logic and rea- 
son on their side, in maintaining against the liberal 
school that, if evil exists essentially in society or in the 
state, the only remedy is the overthrow of society or the 
state ; and, according to this hypothesis, it is neither 
necessary nor proper, but, on the contrary, it is per- 
nicious and absurd to attempt to reform man. 

If we adopt the theory of the innate and absolute 
goodness of man, then he is the universal reformer, and 
in no need of being himself reformed. This view trans- 
forms man into God, and he ceases to have a human 
nature and becomes divine. Being in himself absolute 
goodness, the effect produced by the revolutions he 
creates must be absolute good ; and as the chief good, 
and cause of all good, man must therefore be most ex- 
cellent, most wise, and most powerful. Adoration is so 
imperative a necessity for man, that we find the social- 
ists, who are atheists, and as such refusing to adore 
God, making gods of men, and in this way inventing a 
new form of adoration. 

These being the dominant ideas of the socialist schools 
with regard to man, it is evident that socialism denies 
his antithetical nature as a pure invention of the Cath- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



191 



olic school. For this reason, St. Simonism and Four- 
rierism do not admit that man is so constituted that the 
understanding and will are antagonistic ; nor do they 
concede that there is any opposition whatever between 
the spirit and the flesh. The chief object of St. Simon- 
ism is to practically prove the reconciliation and unity 
of these two powerful energies. This perfect agreement 
was symbolized in the St. Simonian priesthood, whose 
office it was to satisfy the spirit by the gratification of 
the flesh, and the flesh by the gratification of the spirit. 

The principle common to all the socialists, which con- 
sists in replacing the vicious construction of society with 
an organization similar to that of man, who is, according 
to them, properly constituted, leads the St. Simonians 
to deny every kind of political, scientific, and social 
dualism. And this is a necessary negation, if we sup- 
pose the denial of the antithetical nature of man. 
Having proclaimed the reconciliation between the flesh 
and the spirit, they then announce the universal agree- 
ment and reconciliation of all things ; and as there can 
be no agreement and reconciliation except in unity, 
therefore universal unity becomes a consequence of hu- 
man unity, from which results a political, social, and 
religious pantheism ; and this constitutes the ideal des- 
potism, which all the socialist schools ardently desire. 
The common father of the school of St. Simon, and the 
high priest of the school of Fourrier, are its most august 
and glorious personifications. 

Returning to the contemplation of the nature of man, 
which is our special study for the present, we find that 
the socialists, affirming man's unity on one side, and on 
the other his absolute goodness, proceed to proclaim man 
holy and divine; and this not only in his unity, but like- 



192 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



wise in each and all of the elements which constitute it ; 
and they thereby proclaim the sanctity and divinity of 
the passions. For this reason, all the socialist schools, 
some implicitly and others explicitly, declare the divin- 
ity and sanctity of the passions. From this admission 
must result the explicit condemnation of all repressive 
and penal systems, and above all the condemnation of 
virtue, whose function is to arrest the progress of the 
passions, to restrain their explosion, and repress their 
efforts. All these consequences of anterior principles, 
and which in their turn become principles leading to 
more remote consequences, are both taught and an- 
nounced, with a greater or less degree of cynicism, by 
all the socialist schools, among which are conspicuous 
those of St. Simon and of Fourrier, which shine with a 
greater brilliancy than the others, like two suns in a 
starry sky. This is what is meant by the St. Simonian 
theory respecting the restoration of woman and the paci- 
fication of the flesh. This is the signification of Four- 
rier's doctrine of attraction. Fourrier says: "Duty 
proceeds from man (understood to mean society) and 
attraction comes from God." Madam de Coeslin, as 
quoted by Mr. Louis Raybaud, in his Reflections upon 
Cotemporaneous Reformers, has expressed the same 
thought with greater precision, in these words: "The 
passions are of divine, the virtues of human institution;" 
which means, according to the assumed principles of the 
school, that the virtues are pernicious and the passions 
arc salutary. For this reason the supreme end of so- 
cialism is to create a new social order, in which the 
passions will have free scope, and which is to be inaugu- 
rated by the destruction of the political, religious, and 
social institutions which restrain them. The golden era 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



193 



announced by the poets, and expected by the world, will 
commence when this great event takes place, and when 
this magnificent aurora dawns upon the horizon. Then 
the earth will become a paradise, whose gates will stand 
ever open, and, not like the Catholic paradise, a prison 
guarded by an angel. Then evil will disappear from 
the earth, w T hich, until that time, will be a valley of 
tears, but which is not condemned to be so forever. 

Such are the socialist opinions concerning good and 
evil, God and man. I am sure that my readers will not 
require that I should follow the socialist schools, step 
by step, through all the intricacies of their disturbing 
speculations. This will be the less expected, as I have 
already virtually refuted them, by presenting the august 
simplicity of the Catholic doctrine on all these great 
questions. Nevertheless, I believe it to be a sacred 
and imperative duty to demolish this edifice of error, 
and for this purpose it will be sufficient, and more than 
sufficient, to advance one single argument. 

Society may be considered under two different points 
of view — the Catholic and the pantheistic. Viewed 
under the Catholic aspect, it is only the reunion of a 
multitude of men, who all live in obedience to, and 
under the protection of, the same laws and institutions. 
According to the pantheistic view, it is an organism 
which has an individual, concrete, and necessary exist- 
ence. According to the first supposition, it is evident 
that society, having no existence independent of the 
individuals who constitute it, there can be nothing in 
the society which did not previously exist in the indi- 
vidual members of it; therefore, all good and evil in 
society must come from man. Regarded in this aspect, 
it is absurd to attempt to extirpate evil from society 



194 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



where it incidentally exists, without any reference to 
the individuals through whom it originally and essen- 
tially exists. According to the second supposition, so- 
ciety has a self-sustaining, concrete, individual, and 
necessary existence. Those who assert this must sat- 
isfactorily solve the same questions that the rational- 
ists propose to the Catholics respecting man : that is, 
whether society is essentially or accidentally evil. If we 
assume the first, how is essential evil to be explained ? 
If the second, how, in what way, under what circum- 
stances, and upon what occasion has the social harmony 
been disturbed by these incidental perturbations ? We 
have already seen how the Catholics unravel these com- 
plications, with what success they solve all these diffi- 
culties, and in what manner they answer all these ques- 
tions respecting the existence of evil, considered as a 
consequence of the human prevarication. That which 
we have not yet seen, and which we shall never see, is 
the success of socialist rationalism in solving these same 
questions respecting the existence of evil, considered as 
existing only in social institutions. 

This single reason would be sufficient to authorize the 
assertion, that the socialist theory is that of charlatans, 
and socialism only the social reason of a set of clowns. 
Not to exceed the strict limits within which I have pro - 
posed to confine myself, I will close this discussion by 
presenting this dilemma for a socialist solution. Ac- 
cording to socialist doctrine, the evil which exists in 
society is either essential or accidental. If it is essen- 
tial, it is not sufficient, in order to eradicate it, to over- 
throw social institutions ; but it is likewise necessary to 
destroy society itself, since this is the essence which pro- 
duces evil in its various forms. But, if social evil is 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



195 



accidental, then you must do what you have not done, 
what you do not nor cannot do; you must explain when 
and how, in what manner, and under what form this 
accident has occurred; and then you must show through 
what series of deductions you can succeed in converting 
man into the redeemer of society, and in investing him 
with power to wash away its corruption and sin. With 
this view, it will be well to remind the incautious, w T ho 
may be attracted by these declamatory assertions, that 
the rationalism which attacks with fury all the Catholic 
mysteries, afterwards proclaims these very mysteries in 
a different manner and with another design. Catholi- 
cism affirms two things — the existence of evil and the 
redemption. These affirmations are also equally in- 
cluded in the symbol of social rationalism. There is 
on this point only this difference between socialists and 
Catholics: the Catholics affirm that evil comes from 
man, and redemption from God; the socialists affirm 
that evil comes from society, and redemption from man. 
The two affirmations of Catholicism are sensible and 
natural, namely, that man is man, and performs human 
works, and that God is God, and performs divine acts. 
The two affirmations of socialism assert that man under- 
stands and executes the designs of God, and that so- 
ciety performs the works proper to man. What, then, 
does human reason gain when it rejects Catholicism for 
socialism ? Does it not refuse to receive that which is 
evident and mysterious, in order to accept that which is 
at once mysterious and absurd ? 

Our refutation of socialist theories would not be com- 
plete if we did not allude to the attacks of Mr. Proudhon 
upon his opponents, which are alternately replete with 
argument, sarcasm, and eloquence. 



196 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



Here is what Mr. Proudhon thinks of the harmonious 
nature of man, as announced by St. Simon and Four- 
rier, and of the future transformation of the earth into 
a garden of delights, as announced by all the socialists: 
"Man, considered in the combination of his manifesta- 
tions, and after all his antagonisms have been met, 
presents, nevertheless, one contradiction which cannot 
be referred to anything which exists on the earth, and 
must remain without any solution whatever, here below. 
For this reason, no matter how perfect the order of so- 
ciety may be, it can never be entirely exempt from all 
sorrow and weariness. Felicity in this world is a chi- 
mera, which we are perpetually condemned to pursue, 
and which the invincible antagonism between the flesh 
and the spirit ever places beyond our reach."* Now 
mark the following sarcasm against the natural excel- 
lence of man : "The greatest obstacle that equality has 
to overcome is not in the aristocratic pride of the rich, 
but in the unconquerable egotism of the poor ; and yet, 
in spite of this, you dare to depend upon the innate 
goodness of man, in order to reform both the spontaneity 
and the premeditation of his malice. "f His sarcasm is 
still more pungent in the following words, taken from 
the same chapter of the same work: "Truly, the logic 
of socialism is astonishing ; . . they tell us that man is 
good, but that it is necessary that he should have no 
interest in doing evil, in order that he should abstain 
from evil ; and we are told that man is good, but that 
it is necessary that it should be to his advantage to do 
good, in order that he should practice it. For, if it is 
the interest of his passions that he should do evil, he 



* System of Contradictions, ch. x. 



f Ibid. ch. yiii. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 197 

will do evil ; and if it is of no advantage to him to do 
good, he will not do good. This being the case, society 
has no right to condemn man if he listens to his pas- 
sions, because it is the duty of society to lead man by 
means of his passions. How excellent was the nature 
of Nero, and how gifted ! What an artist's soul had 
Heliogabalus, who reduced prostitution to a system ! 
And as to Tiberius, how great and energetic was his 
character ! But what a corrupt society which perverted 
these divine souls, and which, notwithstanding, produced 
a Tacitus and a Marcus Aurelius ! And this is what is 
called the innate goodness of man and the sanctity of 
his passions. An old Sappho, in the decay of her 
beauty, and abandoned by her lovers, consents to re- 
ceive the yoke of marriage. Being no longer interested 
in love, she resigns herself to matrimony, and then they 
call this woman holy! What a great misfortune that 
this word holy has not the twofold meaning in the 
French that it has in the Hebrew language — then every 
one would agree as to the sanctity of Sappho." Again, 
his sarcasm assumes that form of brutal eloquence, which 
might be called the Proudhonian style. In the same 
work, (chapter xii.,) Mr. Proudhon expresses himself in 
this manner : "Let us hastily pass over these systems 
of St. Simon and Fourrier, and all others of a similar 
nature, whose authors proclaim aloud in the streets and 
public places that free love is united in felicitous bonds 
with the purest modesty, delicacy, and spirituality; sad 
illusion of a degraded socialism — last dream of the de- 
lirium of debauch ! Let inconstancy give free license 
to passion, and then will the flesh tyrannize over the 
spirit ; then will love become only the vile instrument 

18 



198 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



of pleasure, and the union of hearts is succeeded by sen- 
sual desires, and In order to form an opinion 

of such things, it is not necessary to have roamed, like 
St, Simon, through the haunts of infamy." 

After having exposed and refuted the socialist theories 
in general, respecting the problems which form the sub- 
ject of this book, it only remains to explain and refute 
the theory of Mr. Proudhon, in order to close this long 
and complicated discussion. Mr. Proudhon explains his 
doctrine briefly but fully in chapter viii. of the work we 
have just cited, in the following words: "The education 
of liberty, the subjection of our instincts, the freeing or 
redemption of our soul, this is the signification, as Less- 
ing has shown, of the Christian mystery, rightly inter- 
preted. This education will last as long as our life and 
that of mankind. Moses, Budha, Jesus Christ, and 
Zoroaster, were all apostles of expiation, and living sym- 
bols of penance. Man is by nature a sinner, which does 
not precisely mean that he is evil, but rather that he is 
imperfectly formed. His destiny is to be forever occu- 
pied in re-creating his ideal within himself." 

In this profession of faith there is a portion of both 
the Catholic and socialist theories, and also something 
of what belongs to neither, and which constitutes the 
individuality of the Proudhonian theory. 

The Catholic element consists in the recognition of 
the existence of evil and of sin, in the confession that 
sin is in man and not in society, and that evil does not 
come from society but from man, and lastly, in the ex- 
plicit acknowledgment of the necessity of redemption 
and repentance. 

The socialist element is found in the affirmation that 
man is the redeemer ; while that which constitutes the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



199 



individuality of the Proudhonian theory consists, on the 
one hand, in this principle, (which contradicts the so- 
cialist theory,) that man the redeemer does not reform 
society except as he reforms himself ; and on the other 
hand, in asserting (contrary to the Catholic theory) that 
man did not make himself evil, but that he was imper- 
fectly created. Setting aside what this theory possesses 
in conformity with the Catholic, and also with the so- 
cialist view, I shall examine it in those points wherein 
it differs from both, and in virtue of which it is neither 
socialist nor Catholic, but exclusively Proudhonian. 

The peculiarity of this theory consists in its assertion 
that man is a sinner only because he has been created 
imperfect. In accordance w r ith this supposition, Mr. 
Proudhon has given a striking proof of good sense and 
sound logic, in seeking the Redeemer apart from the 
Creator, because it is evident that he who has imper- 
fectly created us could not properly redeem us. Since 
God, then, could not be the Redeemer, and a redeemer 
being necessary, the redemption must necessarily come 
either from man or from angels. Being doubtful of the 
existence of the angel, and certain of the necessity of 
redemption, and not knowing whom to select for this 
office, Mr. Proudhon has assigned it to man, who is at 
the same time a sinner and the expiator of his sin. 

There is a fitting connection and agreement between 
all these propositions, and their only weak point is in 
the fact upon which they rest, because man has either 
been created perfect or imperfect. If we admit the first 
supposition, the theory is erroneous ; and if we admit 
the second, the following reasoning may be deduced : If 
man is imperfectly formed, and is nevertheless his own 
redeemer, there is a manifest contradiction between his 



200 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



nature and the function ascribed to hirn ; because, how- 
ever imperfect the constitution of man, if he is so formed 
that he can improve the work of his Creator to such a 

degree as to become his own saviour, far from being an 
© 7 © 

imperfectly constituted creature, he is the most perfect 
of created beings : for, how can we imagine a higher 
perfection than that which consists in the faculty of 
blotting out all our sins, of correcting all our imperfec- 
tions, and, to express all in one word, of redeeming 
ourselves ? Now, if man, whatever his imperfections, 
is, by the very fact of his being his own redeemer, a 
perfect being, to affirm of him that he was created im- 
perfect, and yet is his own redeemer, is equivalent to 
affirming what is denied, and to denying what is affirmed; 
because it is affirming at the same time that he has been 
created both perfect and imperfect. And, let it not be 
said that man's imperfection comes from God, and his 
highest perfection of self-redemption comes from him- 
self ; because to this we answer, that man could never 
become his own redeemer if he had not been created 
with the faculty of attaining so great an eminence, or 
at least with the power of acquiring this faculty in the 
course of time. It is necessary to admit one of these 
two things, and, in this matter, to yield a part is to con- 
cede all; because if man, from the period of his crea- 
tion, was potentially his own redeemer, before being so 
actually, this power, in spite of all his imperfections, 
constituted him a perfect being. The Proudhonian 
theory is, therefore, but a contradiction of terms. 

The conclusion to be drawn from all that has been 
said is, that there is no school whatever which does not 
recognize the simultaneous existence of good and evil, 
and that Catholicism alone satisfactorily explains the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



201 



nature and origin of both, and also their various and 
complicated effects. Catholicism teaches us that there 
is no good whatever which does not come to us from 
God, and that all which comes from God is good. It 
teaches us in what manner evil commenced with the first 
aberration of the angelical and the human liberty; and 
how, from being obedient and submissive, they became 
rebellious and disloyal; and in what way and to what 
extent these two great prevarications change everything 
by their influence and ravages. Finally, it teaches us 
that good is in its nature eternal because it is essential, 
and that evil is transitory because it is accidental; from 
which it follows that good is neither subject to change 
nor decay, and that evil may be blotted out and the sin- 
ner redeemed. Reserving for future consideration the 
investigation of those great and supreme mysteries 
whose wonderful virtue has extirpated evil in its source, 
we have limited ourselves in this book to exhibiting the 
sovereign art and consummate skill w T hich God has dis- 
played, in converting the effects of original sin into con- 
stituent elements of a higher good and a more perfect 
order. With this view we have explained in what man- 
ner good proceeds from evil through the power of God, 
after having explained in what manner evil proceeds 
from good through the fault of man ; and this without 
the human action and divine reaction implying any 
rivalry whatever between beings who are separated by 
an infinite distance. 

In regard to the rationalist schools, the examination 
of their various systems only serves to prove their pro- 
found ignorance in all that relates to these high ques- 
tions. As to the liberal school, its ignorance is pro- 

13* 



202 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



verbial among those who are well informed. It is 
essentially antitheological in being laical; and because 
it is antitheological it is impotent to give any great im- 
pulsion to civilization; for every form of civilization is 
only the reflection of a theology. The proper office of 
the liberal school is to falsify all principles, by capri- 
ciously and absurdly combining them with others which 
contradict them. They imagine to attain, in this way, 
an equilibrium, while they simply arrive at confusion. 
They think to acquire peace, and they go to war. But 
as it is impossible to escape altogether the authority of 
theology, the liberal school is less laic than it imagines, 
and it is more theological than it appears to be at first 
sight. Thus the question of good and evil (which is of 
all others that can be imagined the most theological) is 
defined and solved by its doctors, though in a way which 
proves how ignorant they are of the art of defining and 
resolving this question. In the first place, they set 
aside the question respecting evil in itself — the evil that 
is the root of all other evil — in order to occupy them- 
selves only with certain forms of evil, as if it were pos- 
sible that he who is ignorant of what evil is should un- 
derstand any particular forms of evil. In the second 
place, they specify the remedy as they have specified 
the evil, and discover it only in certain political forms, 
not knowing that these forms, as reason teaches and 
history proves, are altogether non-essential. Placing 
evil where it does not exist, and the remedy where it is 
not to be found, the liberal school has withdrawn the 
question from its true point of view T , and has thereby 
introduced confusion and disorder in the intellectual 
world. Its ephemeral rule has been fatal to human 
society, and during its transitory reign the dissolving 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



203 



principle of discussion has been ruinous to the good 
sense of the people. In this condition of society there 
is no convulsion that is not to be feared, no catastrophe 
that may not take place, no revolutions that are not in- 
evitable. 

As regards the socialist schools they show, in the 
manner of presenting questions, their superiority over 
the liberal school, which has not the slightest ability to 
resist them. Essentially theological, they are enabled 
to measure the utmost depths of the abysses; nor are 
they wanting in a certain grandeur in their mode of 
presenting problems and proposing their solution. But 
when we consider them more carefully, and enter into 
the intricate labyrinth of their contradictory solutions, we 
discover their radical weakness, however well disguised 
it may be by imposing appearances. The socialist sect- 
aries resemble the pagan philosophers, whose systems 
of theology and cosmogony are a monstrous combina- 
tion of disfigured and mutilated biblical traditions and 
untenable hypotheses. This apparent grandeur arises 
from the atmosphere which surrounds them, and which 
is impregnated with Catholic influences; while their 
contradictions and weakness proceed from their igno- 
rance of dogmas, their forgetfulness of traditions, and 
their contempt of the Church, which is the universal 
depository of Catholic dogmas and Christian traditions. 
Like our dramatists of a former age, who, confounding 
everything, grotesquely but ingeniously placed in the 
mouth of Cesar discourses worthy of the Cid, and caused 
their Moorish chiefs to utter sentiments worthy of Chris- 
tian knights, so the socialists of the present day are 
perpetually occupied in giving a rationalist meaning to 
Catholic formulas; thus exhibiting less genius than sim- 



204 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



plicity, and often showing themselves less malicious than 
candid. 

There is nothing less Catholic nor less rationalistic 
than to seize upon the rationalist and Catholic theories, 
taking from the former its ideas with all its contradic- 
tions, and from the latter its forms with all their magnif- 
icence. As to Catholicism, it will never consent to such 
scandalous proceedings, such shameful confusion, and 
such unworthy spoliation. Catholicism is capable of 
demonstrating, that it alone is based upon principles ade- 
quate to solve all political, social, and religious problems; 
that it alone possesses the secret of all great solutions; 
that it is useless to admit it in part and to deny it in 
part, or to make use of its expressions in order to cover 
the nakedness of other doctrines; that there is no other 
good and no other evil than that which it indicates; that 
things cannot be explained except as it explains them; 
that the God it affirms is the only true God; that man, 
as defined by it, is the only true man ; that humanity is 
precisely what it proclaims it to be, and not otherwise ; 
that when it affirms of men that they are brethren, 
equal and free, it at the same time explains how they 
are so, in what manner, and to what degree ; that its 
words have been adapted to its ideas, and its ideas sup- 
port its words ; that it is necessary to proclaim Catholic 
liberty, equality, and fraternity, or to deny all these 
things as well as their names; that the dogma of re- 
demption is exclusively a Catholic dogma ; that it alone 
teaches us by whom and for whom redemption was ef- 
fected, and the name of the Redeemer and of the re- 
deemed; that to accept its dogmas, in order to mutilate 
them, is the act of a charlatan and a piece of low buf- 
foonery ; that he who is not with it is against it ; that 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



205 



it is the supreme affirmation, and that nothing but an 
absolute negation can be opposed to it. 

In this way is the question defined between rational- 
ists and Catholics. Man is sovereignly free, and being 
free he can accept either purely Catholic or purely 
rationalist solutions; he may affirm all or deny all; he 
may either save himself or lose himself; but what man 
cannot do is to change the immutable nature of things 
by his will. Nor can he find peace in eclecticism, either 
socialist or liberalist. To have the right of denying 
anything, socialists and liberals are obliged to deny all. 
Catholicism, humanly considered, is only great because 
it is the combination of all possible affirmations ; and if 
liberalism and socialism are feeble, it is because they 
jumble together various Catholic affirmations and vari- 
ous rationalistic negations; and instead of being schools 
which contradict Catholicism, they are simply schools 
differing from it. 

The socialists appear bold in their negations only 
when we compare them with the liberalists, who see in 
each affirmation a difficulty and in each negation a dan- 
ger. But the timidity of the socialists strikes us at 
once if we compare them with the Catholic school. For 
then we perceive with what confidence the latter affirms, 
and with what timidity the former deny. What! you 
call yourselves the apostles of a new gospel, and speak 
to us about evil and sin, redemption and grace, things 
which are all found in the old gospel ! You claim to be 
the depositaries of a new political, social, and religious 
science, and yet speak to us of liberty, equality, and 
fraternity, things all as old as Catholicism, which is as 
old as the world ! He who has declared that he would 
exalt the lowly and humble the proud, has fulfilled his 



206 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, ETC. 



word in your case ; for he has condemned you to be 
only the blind expounders of his immortal gospel, by the 
very fact of your aspiring, with a wild and foolish am- 
bition, to promulgate a new law from a new Sinai, but 
not from a new Calvary! 



BOOK III. 



PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS RESPECTING ORDER IN 
HUMANITY. 



CHAPTER I. 
Transmission of sin— Dogma of imputation. 

The sin of the first man sufficiently explains the great 
disorder and formidable confusion into which all things 
fell soon after their creation : a disorder and confusion 
which was changed, as we have seen, without things 
ceasing to be what they were, into elements of a higher 
order and harmony; through that secret and incom- 
municable virtue which is in God, and by which order is 
brought out of disorder, harmony out of confusion, good 
out of evil, by a pure act of God's sovereign will. But 
sin does not adequately explain the perpetuity and con- 
stancy of that primitive confusion which yet subsists in 
all things, and particularly in man. 

In order to explain the continuance of effects, it is 
necessary to suppose the continuance of the cause; and 
in order to explain the duration of the cause, it is essential 
to suppose the perpetual transmission of the offense. 

The dogma of the transmission of sin, with all its con- 
sequences, is one of the most fearful, incomprehensible, 
and obscure of the mysteries which have been taught by 
divine revelation. This sentence of condemnation passed 
in the person of Adam, against all the generations of 

( 207) 



208 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



men, past, present, and future, even to the consumma- 
tion of time, is not to the human understanding, at first 
sight, compatible with the justice of God, and much less 
with his inexhaustible mercy. 

At first sight, and upon a slight examination, any one 
might pronounce this to be a dogma taken from those 
inexorable and gloomy religions of the East, whose 
idols delight in hearing lamentations, in the sight of 
blood, and whose voices breathe only anathemas and 
vengeance. The living God, in the act of revealing him- 
self to us in this tremendous dogma, seems not to re- 
semble the merciful and clement God of the Christians, 
but appears rather like the Moloch of idolatrous nations, 
whose insatiable cruelty is not appeased by offerings of 
the firstlings of the flock, but whose barbaric grandeur 
demands the immolation of the successive generations of 
mankind. Wherefore are we punished, ask all the na- 
tions converted to God, if we have not been guilty ? 

When we examine this question fully and directly, it 
will not be difficult to demonstrate the entire congruity 
of this profound mystery. We ought previously to ob- 
serve that the very persons who deny the transmission 
of sin as a revealed dogma, are compelled to acknowl- 
edge that even when this article is considered entirely 
distinct from what we hold as of faith, yet the same end 
is attained, however different the ways of treating the 
subject may be. 

Even if we concede that sin and its penalty, being 
personal, are intransmissible, after making this conces- 
sion we can still prove that what this dogma asserts 
remains. 

In effect, in whatever way we may consider this sub- 
ject, the result will always be, that we must admit that 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



209 



sin produces, in those who commit it, ravages and 
changes so radical as to physically and morally alter 
their primitive nature. When this happens, man, trans- 
mitting necessarily all that he constitutionally has, there- 
fore transmits to his children, through generation, his 
constitutional conditions. For example, when the unre- 
strained indulgence of anger becomes the cause of a 
malady in the person addicted to this passion, and this 
infirmity becomes constitutional and organic, it is evi- 
dent and natural that this person will transmit to his 
children, by means of generation, the constitutional and 
organic evil from which he suffers. This constitutional 
and organic evil, if we view it under its physical aspect, 
is simply a malady ; but considered under a moral aspect, 
it becomes a predisposition of the flesh to subjugate the 
spirit by means of the passion which caused the infirmity. 
Who can doubt that the prevarication of Adam, which 
exceeded all others, must have changed, and did change, 
in a radical manner, his moral and physical constitution? 
This being so, it is clear that Adam transmitted to us 
through his blood the organic vice produced by sin, and 
the predisposition to commit sin 9 as a consequence of 
this vice. 

It follows from this, that it is in vain to deny the 
dogma of the transmission of sin, if those who make 
this denial do not at the same time deny what they can- 
not refuse to receive without being utterly devoid of 
sense, namely, that sin, when it is great, has a sensible 
effect upon the constitution and organism of man, and 
that this organic and constitutional impression is trans- 
mitted from generation to generation, imparting to all 
a depraved constitution and organism. 

It is equally in vain, in denying the transmissibility 

19 



23 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



of sin, also to deny the dogma of imputation, or the 
transmission of the penalty. For what is thus rejected 
as a penalty must still be accepted, under another name, 
as a misfortune. Those who make this denial are un- 
willing to admit that the misfortunes which we suffer are 
a penalty, because the idea of punishment implies a 
voluntary infraction on the part of the person who re- 
ceives it, and a voluntary determination on the part of 
the person who imposes it. But our sorrows and mis- 
fortunes are none the less certain and inevitable, and 
those who will not admit these misfortunes to be the 
legitimate consequence of sin, are nevertheless obliged 
to admit them as a natural consequence of the necessary 
relations between cause and effect. According to this 
system, the radical corruption of their nature was a 
penalty our first parents merited, because they volun- 
tarily sinned. This voluntary disobedience merited the 
penalty of depravity which was imposed upon them by 
an incorruptible judge. This same corruption of our 
nature is in us only a misfortune, as it is not imposed 
upon us as a penalty, but is imputed to us as heirs of a 
nature radically corrupted. And this misfortune is so 
deplorable that even God could not decree our exemption 
from it, without altering by a miracle one of the laws 
which govern the world, and in virtue of which effects 
result from their causes. This miracle was performed in 
the fullness of time, in so excellent and exalted a man- 
ner, by means so hidden and supernatural, and by an 
act of wisdom so sublime that this ineffable work of 
God was to some a scandal, and to others a foolishness. 

The transmission of the consequences of sin is thus 
explained according to this system. The first man was, 
at his creation, endowed with inestimable privileges. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



211 



His flesh was subject to his will, and his will to his un- 
derstanding, which received its light from the divine 
mind. If our first parents had procreated before sin- 
ning, their children would have inherited their pure 
nature. To prevent this, it would have been necessary 
on the part of God to change that law in virtue of 
which each being transmits its own qualities, and to 
establish another law in its place by which each being 
could only transmit precisely that which it has not. 
Our first parents having been guilty of a grievous 
rebellion, they were justly despoiled of all their privi- 
leges. Their spiritual union with God ceased, and they 
were separated from him. Their wisdom was converted 
into ignorance, all their power into weakness. They 
were deprived of that original justice and grace in 
which they were born, and, being despoiled of all, re- 
mained entirely destitute. Their flesh rebelled against 
their will, their will against their understanding ; their 
reason sought to control their will, and their will to sub- 
due the flesh; and their flesh, will, and reason united in 
rebelling against that most high God who had so mag- 
nificently endowed them. 

It is evident that in this condition the father could 
not avoid transmitting to his children, by way of gener- 
ation, his own properties, and that the child was born 
ignorant of one ignorant, weak of one weak, depraved 
of one depraved, separated from God of one departed 
from God, infirm of one infirm, mortal of one mortal, 
rebellious of one rebellious. Had man been born wise 
of one ignorant, strong of one weak, united to God of 
one separated from God, healthy of one infirm, immortal 
of one mortal, and submissive of one rebellious, the law 
of nature must have been changed in virtue of which 



212 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



like produces like, and replaced by another law in virtue 
of "which contraries produce their contraries. 

These are the views of those who assume to give a 
purely natural explanation of the transmission of evil: 
and we see that reason eventually attains the same con- 
clusion as the dogma, although it does so by different 
means. There are speculative but not practical differences 
between the one and the other. In order to comprehend 
the immense distinction that exists between the natural 
and supernatural explanation of the fact that we are 
investigating, it is essential to look beyond this fact. 
We then perceive the inadequacy of the human explana- 
tion and the entire adequacy of the divine. This full- 
ness of evidence will become more apparent as we con- 
tinue our investigations. At present my design is only 
to explain and demonstrate the dogma of transmission; 
a dogma which, without weakening what is really true 
in the explication, according to a natural point of view, 
rectifies whatever it contains that is incomplete and 
false. 

Natural reason designates as misfortune what is trans- 
mitted to us. Dogma gives three designations: sin, 
penalty, and misfortune — it being misfortune wherein it 
is inevitable, penalty wherein it is voluntary on the part 
of God, and sin wherein it is voluntary on the part of 
man. The wonder is that this misfortune, which is a 
real misfortune, is yet so in such a manner that it be- 
comes a happiness; and that this penalty, which is a 
real penalty, is yet so in such a manner that it becomes 
a remedy ; and that this sin, which is a real sin, is yet 
so in such a manner that it is converted into a blessing : 
felix culpa. In this great plan of God, more than in 
any other of his designs, that supreme wisdom is con- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



213 



spicuous by which he reconciles what would seem to be 
irreconcilable, and by means of which all contradictions 
and incompatibilities are combined in one magnificent 
synthesis. 

With regard to sin, the entire question lies in this 
difficult problem: How can we be sinners when we do 
not sin ? How can we as infants sin ? 

In order to explain this, we must consider that our 
first parent represented both an individual and a species, 
a man and the human species, diversity and unity joined 
in one. And as it is a fundamental and primitive law 
that diversity proceeds from the unity wherein it exists 
in order to form a separate existence, but returns in its 
ultimate evolution to the unity from which it originates, 
as a consequence of this law the species which Adam 
represented proceeded from Adam, through generation, 
so as to constitute for itself a separate existence. But as 
Adam was at the same time species and individual, it 
necessarily results from this, that Adam was in the spe- 
cies as he was in the individual. "When the individual 
and the species were one and the same, Adam united 
these things in himself; when the individual and the 
species were separated in order to constitute unity and 
diversity, Adam was these two things separated, in the 
same way that he had previously been these two things 
united. There then existed an Adam as an individual, 
and another Adam as a species ; and as sin existed be- 
fore the separation, and as Adam sinned both with his 
individual nature and with his collective nature, it 
results from this, that both the one and the other Adam 
were sinners. The individual Adam died, but the col- 
lective Adam did not die, and with his life preserves his 

19* 



214 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM. 



sin. The collective Adam and human nature are iden- 
tical, and human nature is therefore perpetually guilty, 
because it is forever sinful. 

Let us now apply these principles to the present ques- 
tion. Every man has a human nature, and therefore 
Adam, vrho is this very nature, perpetually lives in each 
man, and lives in him with that which is become in- 
herent with his life, that is to say, with his sin. This 
granted, we can understand more readily how sin can 
exist in the child at his birth. At my birth I am a sinner, 
although I am but an infant, because through the human 
nature which I have I am Adam. I am so not because 
I sin, but because I have sinned when I was Adam and 
an adult, and before I bore the name that I now bear, 
and before my birth. When God created Adam I was 
in Adam, and he was in me at my birth. Not being 
able to be separated from his person I cannot be sepa- 
rated from his sin. Notwithstanding, I am not Adam 
in such a way that I am confounded with him in an 
absolute manner. There is that peculiar to me which 
is not in him — that by which I am distinguished from 
him, namely, that inherent quality which constitutes 
my individual unity, and which distinguishes me from 
him whom I most closely resemble: and this which 
constitutes me as an individual, this diversity rela- 
tively to a common unity, is what I have received 
and hold from the father who begot me, and from the 
mother who bore me. They have not given me human 
nature, which I receive from God through Adam, but 
they have placed on this nature the seal of the family, 
and they have stamped it with their image. They have 
not given me being, but the manner of my existence; 
placing the less in the greater, that is to say, placing 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



215 



that by which I am distinguished from others in that 
by which I resemble others ; the particular in the com- 
mon, the individual in the human. And as that which 
I have of human, and which assimilates me to others, is 
that which is essential in man, and that which I have 
as an individual and distinct from others, is only an acci- 
dent, therefore what man receives from God through 
Adam is that which constitutes his essence, and what he 
receives from God through his father is that which con- 
stitutes his form; consequently there is no man what- 
ever whose being, considered as a whole, does not more 
closely resemble Adam than his own father. 

As to the question of penalty, it is solved from the 
moment that we accept as established the transmission 
of sin ; as the one cannot be comprehended without the 
other, on account of their mutual dependence. If it is 
certain that I am guilty, it is just that I should be pun- 
ished ; and as in these matters what is just is necessary, 
it follows that what I suffer is, without ceasing to be a 
misfortune, necessarily a penalty. Penalty and misfor- 
tune differ in a human point of view, but are identical 
in a divine point of view. Man calls misfortune the 
evil produced as the inevitable effect of a second cause, 
and he designates as penalty the evil that a free being 
voluntarily imposes on another in punishment of a vol- 
untary fault. But as all that takes place necessarily 
happens by the will of God, so all that takes place by 
his will necessarily happens. God is the supreme equa- 
tion between the necessary and the voluntary, and these 
things which for a man are different are in God one and 
the same. Therefore it is manifest that under the di- 
vine point of view all misfortune is a penalty, and all 
penalty a misfortune. 



216 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM. 



From what we have just said may be perceived how 
great is the error of those who are not astonished at 
the mysterious analogies and secret affinities which God 
places between parents and their children, but who are 
yet surprised that God has placed these same affinities 
and analogies between the rebel Adam and his unhappy 
descendants. No understanding may measure, nor rea- 
son grasp, nor imagination conceive the strong and close 
tie which God has himself placed between all men and 
this only man, who is at the same time unity and collec- 
tion, singular and plural, individual and species, who 
dies and who yet survives, who is real and symbolical, 
type and substance, body and shadow, in whom we all 
were and who is in us all. This is a fearful enigma 
which presents under each new aspect a new mystery. 
And as man cannot comprehend, either by his reason, 
or by his imagination, or by his understanding, that 
which is so strangely complex and mysteriously ob- 
scure in his nature, neither can he understand (even 
did he employ every faculty of his soul in the attempt 
to do so) the immense distance that exists between our 
sins and the sin of the first man ; a sin which like him 
stands alone and unequaled by its profound malice 
and its unparalleled enormity. No one since Adam 
has sinned as Adam sinned, and no one will sin as 
he did throughout the duration of time. His sin, 
partaking of the nature of the sinner, was at the 
same time both one and multiple, because it was in act 
one sin and in effect ail sins. By it Adam marred that 
which no other sinner could ever deface; for he thereby 
destroyed the spotless purity of his innocence. We who 
now sin, multiplying sin upon sin. only add stain upon 
stain: but Adam alone sullied the spotless whiteness 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



217 



of the snow. The condition in which our nature is 
placed is a grave evil, and our sins are a still greater 
evil; but between the deformity peculiar to sin and that 
peculiar to the nature of man, there exists a secret con- 
nection and a certain proportion which did not exist 
between sin and the nature of the first man. Extreme 
beauty united in the same man to extreme ugliness is 
monstrous; and two forms of* ugliness combined are, in 
comparison to it, beautiful. For then, in place of their 
ugliness being heightened by contrast, it is to some ex- 
tent modified by the harmony which results from their 
resemblance. This is, doubtless, the reason why physi- 
cal ugliness always seems to diminish with years. It 
appears to be better adapted to old age, and harmonizes 
with its wrinkles. On the contrary, nothing can be 
more sad, nor more repulsive, than the stamp of old 
age upon an angelic face, or than ugliness in the bloom 
of life. Those women who, having once been beautiful, 
preserve in the decline of life the vestiges of theirfcfor- 
mer loveliness, have always appeared to me to be horri- 
ble — they always remind me of the magnitude of that 
first sin, in consequence of which we find united that 
which God designed should remain separated. No ! 
God has not made beauty for old age, nor old age for 
beauty. Lucifer was the only angel, and Adam the only 
man w T ho united in themselves all the horrors of decrepi- 
tude and ugliness joined to all the freshness of youth 
and the splendor of beauty. 



218 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



CHAPTER II. 

How God brought good out of the transmission of sin, and of 
penalty— The purifying effect of pain freely accepted. 

Reason, which revolts against the transmission of 
sin or of penalty, yet receives what is transmitted to 
us without repugnance, notwithstanding the sorrow which 
accompanies it, if in place of being designated as sin 
and penalty it is called inevitable misfortune. It is 
not, however, difficult clearly to prove that this misfor- 
tune could not be changed into happiness, except with 
the condition of its being a penalty, from which we neces- 
sarily conclude that the rationalist solution in its defini- 
tive results is less acceptable than the Catholic solution. 

If our actual depravity is only a physical and neces- 
sary effect of the primitive corruption, and the effect 
must last so long as the cause remains, it is evident that 
since there is no means whatever of removing the cause, 
neither can there be any by which the effect may be pre- 
vented. Original corruption, the cause of our actual cor- 
ruption, is an accomplished fact; and our actual corrup- 
tion is consequently an established fact, and places us 
in a state of irrevocable suffering and misfortune. 

Moreover, when we reflect upon the radical antago- 
nism between the corrupt and the incorruptible, we must 
acknowledge that according to the rationalist solution, 
any union of man with God is rendered altogether im- 
possible not only in the present, but likewise in the 
future. In effect, since human corruption is indelible 
and perpetual, and since God is eternally incorruptible, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



219 



between the incorruptibility of God and the perpetual 
corruption of man there is an invincible repugnance, 
and an absolute contradiction, and man must therefore 
remain forever separated from God. 

Nor can it be said in reply that man may be redeemed, 
because the logical consequence of this system is pre- 
cisely the impossibility of the redemption of mankind. 
There can be no redemption for unhappiness, unless we 
conceive it as a penalty attached to sin. If we suppress 
the sin, we also suppress the penalty; and by the sup- 
pression of the sin and the penalty unhappiness becomes 
irremediable. 

According to this system, free will in man becomes 
altogether inexplicable. For if man is born, lives, and 
dies separated from God through an invincible necessity, 
what does free will in man mean, and what is it ? 

If there can be no transmission of sin, and of pun- 
ishment, then there can exist no reason for the dogma 
of redemption and of human liberty, and with these all 
the other dogmas are also subverted. Because if man 
is not free, then he has not dominion over the earth; 
and if he has no right to exercise this sovereignty, the 
earth is not united to God through man; and if it is not 
united to God through man, it is not united to Him in 
any manner whatever. If man, in place of being sepa- 
rated from God in one form in order to return to Him in 
another, is absolutely separated from Him so that neither 
the goodness, the justice, nor the mercy of God can 
reach him, then all the harmonies of creation disappear, 
every tie is broken, disorder universally prevails, and all 
things are in a chaotic state. God ceases to be the 
Catholic, the living God. God is on high in his majesty. 
His creatures, in their abjection, grovel below, and neither 



220 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



do they desire God nor does he deign to occupy himself 
with them. 

The divine beauty of Catholic dogmas is pre-eminent 
in the admirable connection which unites them all in 
such marvelous and profound harmony, that human 
reason cannot conceive of a more perfect agreement, 
and is placed in the fearful alternative of accepting or 
rejecting them altogether. Nor does this difficulty exist 
because each dogma expresses a different truth, but be- 
cause they all contain the same truth; the various dog- 
mas simply presenting and corresponding to a diversity 
of aspects. 

Nor have we fully depicted the consequences of the 
system, which, while it admits the lamentable unhappi- 
ness of fallen man, makes an absolute abstraction of 
penalty. If this unhappiness is simply a misfortune, 
and not also a punishment — if it is only the inevitable 
effect of a necessary cause, there can be no way of ex- 
plaining why Adam should have persevered, or why we 
should retain any remnant whatever of our primitive 
condition. For it is worthy of remark, and in opposi- 
tion to what at first sight would appear, that it is not 
justice but mercy which is especially conspicuous in that 
solemn condemnation which immediately followed the 
commission of sin. If God had refrained from inter- 
vening with this condemnation when this tremendous 
catastrophe occurred, if when he saw man separated 
from him he had withdrawn himself from man, and 
entering into the tranquillity of his repose had no 
longer vouchsafed to think of man, or, to express all in 
one word, if God in place of condemning man had 
abandoned him to the inevitable consequences of his 
voluntary disunion and separation, then the fall of man 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



221 



would have been hopeless, and his perdition certain. 
But in order that this disaster might be repaired, it be- 
came necessary for God to draw near to man in another 
way, uniting Himself to him anew, although imperfectly, 
by the ties of mercy. Punishment was the new bond of 
union between the Creator and the creature, and in it 
mercy and justice were mysteriously joined: mercy 
being the connecting link, and justice vindicated in the 
penalty assigned. 

If we cease to view suffering and sorrow in the light 
of a penalty, we not only deprive them of their power 
to reunite the Creator and the creature, but we also 
destroy their expiatory and purifying effect on man. 
If grief is not a penalty, it is an unmitigated evil ; if it 
is a penalty, it still remains an evil through its origin, 
sin ; but it is also a great good, on account of its free- 
ing from the defilement of sin. The universality of sin 
renders necessary the universality of purification, in 
order that all mankind may be cleansed in its myste- 
rious waters. This is the reason why all who are born, 
suffer from their birth up to the time of their death. 
Sorrow is the inseparable companion of life in this dark 
valley filled with our sighs, tears and lamentations. 
Every man is a suffering being, and all that is not sor- 
row is foreign to man's condition. If he views the past, 
he feels regret that it is no more; if he regards the 
present, he is distressed because the past seems more 
happy; and if he thinks of the future, he is distressed 
because all is enshrouded in mystery and gloom. How- 
ever slightly he may reflect, he is reminded that the past, 
the present and the future comprise all, and that this 
all is nothing. The past is already past, the present is 

20 



ESSAY OX CATHOLICISM, 



fugitive, and the future is not. The necessitous are 
overwhelmed with privations, the rich are satiated with 
abundance, the powerful are tortured with pride, the idle 
suffer weariness, the lowly envy, the great are disdainful. 
The conquerors who overwhelm nations are themselves 
overcome by their passions, and they only trample upon 
others in order to fly from themselves. Luxury con- 
sumes with its shameless ardors the life of the youth, 
who, when he becomes a man, is inspired by ambition, 
and devoured by the flames of this passion. When 
luxury and ambition are weary of their victim, avarice 
takes possession and gives an artificial life which is 
called wakefulness. Avaricious old men only live be- 
cause they do not sleep ; their life is simply watch- 
fulness. Regard the earth throughout its length and 
breadth, consider all that surrounds you, annihilate 
space and time, and you will find among the abodes 
of men only what you here behold — a grief without 
intermission, and a lamentation which never ceases. 
But this grief freely accepted is the measure of all 
greatness; for there can be no greatness without sacri- 
fice, and sacrifice is only grief voluntarily accepted. 
The world calls those persons heroic who, transpierced 
with a sword of grief, freely accept their suffering. 
The Church calls holy those who accept every grief, 
both of the spirit and of the flesh. Those persons are 
holv who, notwithstanding avaricious desires, renounce 
all the treasures of the world ; those who, craving for 
the pleasures of the table, remain temperate; those who, 
inflamed with voluptuous desires, know how to control 
them and continue chaste; those who, tempted by im- 
pure thoughts, reject them and remain pure ; those who 
attain such heights through humility that they conquer 



LIBERALISM, AXD SOCIALISM. 



223 



pride; those who enviously long for the advantages which 
others enjoy, yet force themselves to change this sadness 
into a pious contentment; those who trample under foot 
the aspirations of ambition which lifted them to the 
clouds; those who, inclined to idleness, become diligent; 
those who, oppressed by melancholy, chase away all 
gloom and raise themselves to a spiritual joy; those 
who, enamored of themselves, immolate their egotism 
for the love of their neighbor, offering for them, with 
heroic zeal, the most perfect of sacrifices, their own life. 

Mankind has unanimously recognized a sanctifying 
virtue in grief. This is why, through all ages, in every 
zone, and among all nations, man has rendered homage 
and worship to great misfortune. CEdipus is greater in 
the day of his calamity than in the days of his glory — 
the world would have forgotten his name if the thunder- 
bolt of divine vengeance had not hurled him from his 
throne. The melancholy beauty which invests the coun- 
tenance of Germanicus with so much attraction, is the 
reflection of the sorrow which blasted the spring-time of 
his life, and of his beautiful death, far from his beloved 
country and the sky of Rome. Marius, who in the 
arrogance of victory is only a cruel man, becomes sub- 
lime when he is precipitated from this eminence, and is 
a wanderer in the marshes of Minturnse, Mithridates 
appears to us greater than Pompey, and Hannibal supe- 
rior to Scipio. Man, without knowing wherefore, always 
inclines in favor of the conquered, and misfortune has 
greater charms for him than victory. Socrates is less 
great in life than in death; nor has he acquired immor- 
tality because he knew how to live, but on account 
of his heroic death. He is less indebted to philosophy 
than to the cup of hemlock. Mankind would have com- 



224 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



plained had Rome permitted Cesar to die like other 
men. His glory was so great that he merited the crown 
of a great misfortune. Scarcely is it permitted to 
Cromwell to expire tranquilly on his bed, invested with 
the sovereign power. Napoleon was to have a different 
death ; he was to die after being vanquished at Water- 
loo. Proscribed by Europe, he was to fill a grave des- 
tined by God, from the beginning of time, to receive 
him. A wide chasm must separate him from the rest 
of the world; one so vast and profound that in it the 
ocean falls. 

Suffering establishes a kind of equality among those 
who suffer, which makes all men in a manner equal, since 
all are called upon to suffer. Prosperity separates us ; 
misfortune unites us in a fraternal bond. Suffering rids 
us of that which we have to excess, and gives us that 
which we needed, so that it places man in a perfect 
equilibrium. The haughty do not suffer without a dim- 
inution of their pride ; nor the ambitious without moder- 
ating their ambition ; nor the choleric without becoming 
less inclined to anger ; nor the luxurious without being 
less given to the gratification of their appetites. Pain 
has a sovereign power to appease the violence of the 
passions, and, while it takes from us what is debasing, 
at the same time it imparts to us what is ennobling. 
The cruel never suffer without being more inclined to 
compassion ; nor the haughty without becoming more 
humble ; nor the voluptuous without growing more 
chaste. The violent are subdued, the weak are strength- 
ened. It is not in vain that we pass through this great 
furnace of pain. The greater number come out of this 
sharp ordeal with exalted virtues, which they never be- 
fore possessed. The impious are converted to religion, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



225 



the avaricious to alms-giving, they who had never wept 
gain the gift of tears, and the hard-hearted become mer- 
ciful. Pain has an undefined element of power, and of 
depth, which is the source of all heroism and grandeur. 
No one has felt this mysterious contact without being 
thereby animated : the child acquires the manliness of 
the youth, the youth the maturity and gravity of man- 
hood, men the strength of heroes, and heroes the sanctity 
of saints. 

On the contrary, he who turns aside from pain to 
court pleasure, commences to descend ; and the career 
of his degradation is rapid and continuous. From the 
height of sanctity he falls into the abyss of sin ; from 
glory he sinks to infamy; his heroism is changed into 
weakness, and through the habit of yielding, he loses 
even the remembrance of firmness, and by falling so 
often he loses the faculty of rising again. Indul- 
gence in pleasure deprives him of all vitality, paralyzes 
the elasticity and vigor of all the muscles of his body, 
and all the energies of his soul. In sensual gratifica- 
tion there is a corrupting and enervating power, which 
slowly and silently kills its victim. Woe to those who 
respond to this syren but perfidious voice ! Woe to 
those who, when pleasure allures with her perfumes and 
flowers, remain without fear, for they shall soon cease 
to be masters of themselves, and shall helplessly fall 
into that swoon of seeming death, in which she wraps 
the senses of those who are intoxicated with the aroma 
of her flowers and the vapors of her perfumes ! Then, 
the unhappy victim either miserably succumbs to this 
infatuation or he is altogether transformed by it. The 
child never attains adolescence, the adult withers into 

20* 



226 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



seeming old age, and the aged perish. Man is despoiled 
by pleasure of the strength of his will, of the vigor of 
his understanding, and loses the instinct of great things. 
He becomes cynically selfish, excessively cruel, and 
nameless passions violently agitate him. If he is of 
mean condition, he will fall from the hands of justice 
into the hands of the executioner. If he is of exalted 
rank, he will excite terror and indignation by the unre- 
strained indulgence of his rapacious and ferocious in- 
stincts. When God wishes to chastise a nation for its 
sins, he enslaves it under the dominion of voluptuous 
men, who, stupefied Avith the opium of sensual gratifica- 
tion, can only be aroused from their brutal insensibility 
by the fumes of blood. All those horrid monsters, whom 
the pretorians in the days of imperial Rome saluted as 
emperors, were voluptuous and effeminate men. Revo- 
lutionary France worshiped at the same time prostitu- 
tion and death; while prostitution triumphed in her tem- 
ples and at her altars, death was worshiped in her public 
places and on her scaffolds. 

There is, then, something corrosive and malefic in pleas- 
ure, as there is in pain something purifying and divine. 
However, it must not be supposed that because these 
things are of a contrary nature, they do not in some sense 
agree ; for, he who freely accepts grief has an innate con- 
sciousness of spiritual joy, which fortifies and elevates 
him ; in the same manner that he who gives himself up 
to pleasure experiences a kind of grief which, in place 
of strengthening, enervates and depresses him. Suffer- 
ing is the universal punishment that all must endure ; 
w T herever man looks around him, or in whatever direc- 
tion he may go, he meets with grief, a mute and weeping 
statue, ever before him. Grief has this, in common with 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



227 



the Divinity, that it is for us a circle, which includes us. 
Whether we are drawn toward the center or carried 
toward the circumference, we are equally attracted to 
it; and to gravitate toward it, is to gravitate toward 
God, who is the inevitable limit of all our movements — 
with this difference, that certain kinds of suffering draw 
us to a tender and compassionate God ; others, to an 
irritated and just God ; and others yet, to the God of 
pardon and mercy. Pleasure engenders suffering as a 
penalty; resignation and sacrifice produce suffering as 
a remedy. How great is the folly of the children of 
Adam ! They cannot escape suffering, and they attempt 
to evade that form of it w T hich is a remedy, only to 
endure it as a punishment ! 

How great is God in all his designs, and how admira- 
ble the divine skill with which he draws good out of evil, 
order out of disorder, and harmony out of discord ! From 
human liberty results the dissonance of sin, from sin the 
degradation of the species ; and suffering is at the same 
time a misfortune for corrupted nature and a punish- 
ment for sinful nature. As a misfortune it is inevita- 
ble, as a penalty it is redeemable, for redemption is 
grace, and grace is displayed in punishment. Thus, the 
most tremendous act of the justice of God becomes the 
greatest act of his mercy. Through it, man, aided by 
God, may redeem himself, by the free acceptance of suf- 
fering ; and this sublime willingness instantly changes 
suffering into a remedy of incomparable efficacy. Every 
negation of this doctrine necessarily introduces disorder 
into humanity through sin, since it inevitably leads to 
the negation of several essential attributes of God, and 
to the radical negation of human liberty. 

The question considered in this aspect is one of those 



228 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



whose solution depends upon the universal order of crea- 
tion, in the same way and for the same reasons as the 
question relating to the human and angelical prevari- 
cations. Considered under a more restricted point of 
view, it finds its solution in a direct and fundamental 
manner, in the special order which God has established 
in the various elements that compose human nature ; 
for, if the voluntary acceptation of suffering produces 
those wonderful effects of which we have spoken, it is 
because it possesses the astounding virtue of radically 
changing all the economy of our being. Through it, the 
rebellion of the flesh is subdued, and it is compelled 
again to submit to the will ; through it, the will is van- 
quished and made to yield to the power of the under- 
standing ; through it, the understanding is again sub- 
jected to the law of duty; and through the fulfillment of 
duty, man returns to the worship of and obedience to 
the laws of God, from which sin had separated him. 
These miraculous transformations take place when man 
heroically conquers himself, and with generous ardor 
seeks to subject his appetites to his will, his will to his 
understanding, and his understanding to the will of 
God; that henceforth united to God by the ties of duty, 
he may be enlightened in God, and through God. 

We will not here explain upon what conditions and 
by what aids the human will is enabled to acquire such 
exalted and supernatural strength. What is here essen- 
tial to remark is, the evident fact that, without this 
elevation on the part of the will, as manifested by its 
voluntary acceptance of suffering, the sovereign harmony 
and marvelous and perfect accord which God estab- 
lished in man and in all his faculties can never be 
restored. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



229 



CHAPTER III. 

The dogma of solidarity— Contradictions of the liberal school. 

Each one of the Catholic dogmas is a marvel prolific 
of marvels. Human intelligence passes from the con- 
templation of one to that of an another, as from one 
evident proposition to another evident proposition; as 
from a principle to its legitimate consequence, when 
they are united by the close tie of a rigorous deduction. 
And each new dogma discovers a new world to us, and 
in each world the view extends over a new and wider 
horizon, and the soul remains absorbed in the splendor 
of so much magnificence. 

The Catholic dogmas explain by their universality 
all universal facts; and these facts, in their turn, ex- 
plain the Catholic dogmas. In the same way what is 
multiple and diverse is explained by what is one, and 
what is one by what is multiple and diverse; the con- 
taining by the contained, and the contained by the 
containing. The dogma of the wisdom and the provi- 
dence of God explains the wonderful harmony of created 
things; and this order and agreement explains this 
Catholic dogma. The dogma of human liberty explains 
the primitive prevarication, and this same prevarication, 
which all traditions attest, demonstrates this dogma. 
The Adamic prevarication is at the same time a divine 
dogma and a traditional fact, and fully explains the 
great disorders which disfigure the beauty and the har- 



230 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



ruony of things. These same disorders, in their evident 
manifestations, are a perpetual proof of the Adamic 
prevarication. Dogma teaches that evil is a negation, 
and good an affirmation; and reason tells us that every 
evil resolves itself into the negation of a divine affirma- 
tion. Dogma declares that evil is modal, and good is 
essential ; and facts prove that every evil resolves itself 
into a certain vicious and disordered manner of being, 
and that there is no essence which is not relatively per- 
fect. Dogma affirms that God brought universal good 
out of universal evil, and a perfect order out of abso- 
lute disorder; and we have already seen in what way 
all things return to God, although they do so by different 
ways, thus constituting by their union with God univer- 
sal and supreme order. 

If we pass from the universal order to human order, 
the connection and harmony both of the dogmas with 
each other, and of the dogmas with the facts, is no less 
evident. The dogma which teaches the simultaneous 
corruption of the individual and of the species in Adam 
explains to us the transmission, by way of generation, 
of sin, and of the effects of sin, and the antithetical, 
contradictory, and depraved nature of man, such as we 
all perceive it to be. This leads us, as by the hand, 
from induction to induction : first, to the dogma of a 
general corruption of all the human species; then, to 
the dogma of a corruption transmitted through the 
blood; and, finally, to the dogma of primitive prevari- 
cation; and this dogma, joined with that of the liberty 
given to man and with that of Providence which grants 
this liberty, becomes as the point of conjunction of those 
dogmas which explain the special order and agreement 
in which all things human were placed, with those other 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



231 



sublime and more universal dogmas, by which we see 
how the Creator produced all creatures with weight, 
number, and measure. Following, then, the exposition 
of the dogmas respecting the human order, we shall see 
proceeding from them, as from a most copious source, 
those general laws of humanity which overwhelm us 
with astonishment by their wisdom, and surprise us by 
their grandeur. 

From the dogma of the concentration of human na- 
ture in Adam, united to the dogma of the transmission 
of this same nature to all men, proceeds, as a conse- 
quence from its principle, the dogma of the substantial 
unity of mankind. The human race being one, ought 
at the same time to be multiple, in conformity with that 
law which is the most universal of all laws, and is at 
the same time physical and moral, human and divine, 
and in virtue of which all unity engenders plurality, and 
all plurality resolves itself into unity. Mankind is one 
by the substance which constitutes it, and it is multiple 
by the persons who compose it; therefore it is one and 
multiple at the same time. In the same manner, each 
one of the individuals who compose humanity, being dis- 
tinct from the others by that which constitutes his in- 
dividuality, and blended with others by that which con- 
stitutes him an individual of the species, that is to say, 
by substance, becomes in this way, at the same time one 
and multiple like the human species. The dogma of 
actual sin is correlative with the dogma of multiplicity in 
the species, and the dogmas of original sin and of impu- 
tation are correlative with the dogma which teaches the 
substantial unity of mankind; and, as a consequence of 
both, proceeds the dogma according to which man is 
subject to a double responsibility — that which is proper 



232 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



to him alone, and also that which belongs to him in 
common with the rest of men. 

This responsibility which man shares in common with 
others is what is called solidarity ; and it is one of the 
most beautiful and sublime revelations of Catholic dog- 
ma. Through solidarity man rises to a higher dignity 
and more elevated sphere, and becomes something 
more than an atom in space and a moment in time. 
Through this law he already lives before he is born, and 
through it he outlives himself, and his life is prolonged 
throughout the duration of time, and expanded through- 
out the limits of space. It is this dogma which affirms, 
and which has up to a certain point created humanity. 
This word, which in the societies of antiquity had no 
meaning, expresses in a Christian era the substantial 
unity of the human race, and the close relationship 
which all men bear toward each other. 

From which we see that the dogma of solidarity not 
only confers nobility upon man, but also dignity upon 
human nature. This is not the case with regard to the 
communist theory of solidarity, of which we shall pres- 
ently speak. According to this theory, the solidarity 
of humanity does not mean the vast association of men 
who are united because they have but one and the same 
nature, but it means that humanity is a living and or- 
ganic unity which absorbs all men, who in place of con- 
stituting it are only its instruments. 

According to the Catholic dogma, the individuals are 
exalted to the same dignity as the species. Catholicism 
holds an equal and sublime level, without inclining to any 
undue elevation or depression. It does not ennoble 
human nature in order to humiliate man, but it desires 
that both man and humanity may be raised to divine 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 233 

heights. When I examine myself, and reflect upon what 
I am, and when I behold myself in communion with the 
first man and with the last of men, and when I consider 
the actions I perform and see them survive me, and be- 
come the cause in the course of their perpetual prolonga- 
tion of acts multiplied upon acts, which, in their turn, 
are perpetually multiplied, even to the end of time; 
when I think that all these actions combined have in my 
act their origin, and that they will testify in my regard 
not only for what I do, but for what I have caused others 
to do, and that I shall accordingly be judged worthy 
either of reward or condemnation; when I meditate 
upon all these things, I can only prostrate myself be- 
fore God and acknowledge that it is not given to me to 
understand or to measure the immensity of the dignity 
with which God has invested me. Who but God could 
thus raise all things to so elevated and perfectly just a 
standard? When man wishes to exalt any object, he 
does so only by depressing what he does not elevate. 
In religious spheres, he does not know how to raise 
himself without lowering God, nor does he know T how 
to exalt God without debasing himself. In the polit- 
ical world, man does not know how to render homage 
to liberty without depriving authority of the respect 
and obedience due to it. In social life, he alternately 
either sacrifices society to the individual or the indi- 
vidual to society, forever fluctuating, as we have seen, 
between the communist despotism and Proudhonian 
anarchy. If he at times attempts to maintain a just 
equipoise everywhere by establishing a certain accord 
and justice in things, then the balance with which he 
would adjust them falls from his hand and is broken, 

21 



234 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



as if there existed an irremediable disproportion be- 
tween the weight of this balance and the weakness of 
man. It would seem as if God, when he gave to man 
dominion over the sciences, had withheld one alone 
which he destined to remain under his own sway and 
jurisdiction — the science of equilibrium. 

This is the reason why all those who have attempted 
to hold the scales in equipoise have been absolutely im- 
potent to effect their object, and are so condemned by 
history. This also explains why the great problem of 
the reconciliation of the rights of the state with those of 
individuals, and of order with liberty, after having been 
agitated from the commencement of the first associa- 
tions, still rests without a solution. Man cannot main- 
tain an equilibrium in things without preserving them in 
their existence; nor can he preserve their existence 
unless he abstains from touching them. God having 
established all things upon the foundations on which 
they firmly rest, any change of his mode of ordaining 
and placing them necessarily brings with it a loss of 
equilibrium. The only peoples who have been at the 
same time respectful and free, the only governments 
that have united moderation and strength, are those in 
whose formation the hand of man is not visible, and 
whose institutions are the result of that slow and pro- 
gressive growth which characterizes everything that has 
stability in the domains of time and of history. 

This great power, which has been denied to man, not 
without a deep design, resides in God in a special and ex- 
clusive manner. Through this power all that leaves the 
hand of God leaves it in a perfect state of equilibrium, 
and all that remains as established by God, maintains 
its perfect equipoise. Without seeking elsewhere for 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



235 



illustrations of this truth, the very question we are dis- 
cussing will suffice to place it beyond all doubt. 

The law of solidarity is so universal, that it is mani- 
fested in all human associations, and men cannot unite 
to form a society without falling under the jurisdiction 
of this inexorable law. Through his ancestors, man is 
in a union of solidarity with past ages; through the 
successive duration of his own acts, and through his 
descendants, he enters into communion with future ages, 
and as an individual and a member of domestic society 
the solidarity of the family weighs upon him. As a 
priest or a magistrate he enters upon a communion of 
rights and duties, of merits and demerits in common 
with the magistracy or the priesthood. As a member 
of a political association he becomes amenable to the 
law of a national solidarity, and finally, in his character 
as man, the law of human solidarity reaches him. And 
notwithstanding that he is responsible in so many dif- 
ferent ways, he preserves his personal responsibility 
whole and intact, which none other diminishes, restrains, 
or absorbs. He may be virtuous, although a member 
of an offending family; uncorrupted and incorruptible, 
although belonging to a depraved society; a prevarica- 
tor, although a member of an irreproachable magistracy; 
and a reprobate, although a member of a holy priest- 
hood. Yet this high power which has been granted to 
man, of withdrawing from this solidarity by an exercise 
of his sovereign will, does not in anything alter the 
principle in virtue of which, in matters in general, and 
without diminution of his liberty, man is what the family 
is in which he is born, and what the society is where 
he lives and breathes. 

Such has been, throughout the duration of historic 



236 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



ages, the universal belief of the world; for even after 
having lost the traces of divine tradition, men have pre- 
served the consciousness of this law of solidarity. If 
they did not intelligently contemplate this law in all its 
grandeur, and even when they remained completely igno- 
rant of the depths to which it strikes its roots, and upon 
what vast foundations it is based, still they recognized 
it by instinct. The dogma of the unity of the human 
race being understood only by the people of God, other 
nations could not have a just idea of the unity and soli- 
darity of humanity; but if they could not apply this 
law to mankind who were ignorant of it, they proclaimed 
and even exaggerated its importance in all their politi- 
cal and domestic associations. 

The idea of the mysterious transmission by blood, not 
only of physical qualities, but likewise of other qualities 
which are exclusively in the soul, of itself suffices to 
explain almost all the institutions of antiquity — domes- 
tic as well as political and social. This idea is identical 
with that of solidarity; for whatever is transmitted in 
common to many, constitutes the unity of those to whom 
it is transmitted, so that to affirm of many that they are 
in communion with each other, is equivalent to affirming 
that there exists a solidarity of interests among them. 
Whenever the idea of the hereditary transmission of 
physical and moral qualities prevails among a people, 
their institutions are necessarily aristocratic. For this 
reason, among all the nations of antiquity in which this 
idea was exclusive, as applied to certain social groups, 
it was not modified by what it had that was general and 
democratic — that is to say, when we apply it to all men, 
they will constitute themselves aristocratically. The 
more powerful races subjugated and reduced to servitude 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



237 



the inferior races, and among the families who composed 
the constitutive groups of the same race, those who 
could claim the most illustrious ancestry assumed power 
over the others. Heroes took pleasure, before they 
engaged in any contest, in extolling the glory of their 
blood. Even cities based their rights of domination 
upon their genealogical trees. Aristotle believed, in 
common with the rest of antiquity, that some men were 
born with the right to command, and were endowed with 
the necessary qualities for so doing; and that they re- 
ceived both that right and these qualities by hereditary 
transmission. Correlative with this general belief was the 
universal belief that there existed among nations cursed 
and disinherited races, who were incapable of transmit- 
ting through generation any quality or any right ; and 
were forever condemned to legitimate and perpetual 
slavery. The democracy of Athens was nothing but an 
insolent and turbulent aristocracy, to whom an enslaved 
multitude were subjected. The Iliad of Homer, an en- 
cyclopedian monument of pagan wisdom, is the genea- 
logical book of the gods and heroes, and, considered 
under this aspect, is only the most splendid of all the 
nobiliaries. 

This idea of solidarity was disastrous among the 
ancients only because it was incomplete. The various 
social, political, and domestic solidarities not being 
hierarchically subordinate among themselves, through 
the human solidarity which has ordained them all and 
placed them within limits, because it includes them all, 
could only produce wars, confusion, conflagrations, and 
catastrophes. Mankind had, under the sway of pagan 
solidarity, fallen into a state of universal and permanent 
war ; and antiquity presents no other spectacle than 

21* 



238 



ESSAY 03" CATHOLICISM, 



that of nations destroyed by nations, kingdoms by king- 
doms, races by races, families by families, and cities by 
cities. The gods combated with the gods, men with 
men, and not unfrequently the immortals, attracted by 
the disorder, descended from Olympus to take part in 
the quarrels of men. Among the diverse associations 
in the same city there is not one which does not attempt 
to exercise, first over its own members, and then over 
other associations, a domineering and absorbing action. 
In the domestic association the personality of the child 
is absorbed by the personality of the father, and that of 
the woman by that of the man : the child becomes a 
mere nonentity, the woman is reduced to an unending 
state of tutelage, and is condemned to a perpetual dis- 
grace ; while the father, who is master of the child and 
of the woman, converts his power into tyranny. Over- 
ruling the tyranny of the father is that of the state, 
which alike absorbs the woman, the child, and the 
father, and annihilates in effect the domestic associa- 
tion. Among the nations of antiquity, patriotism itself 
is merely a declaration of war made by a certain race, 
who have constituted themselves a nation, against the 
rest of mankind. 

If we pass from the ages of antiquity to the present 
times, we shall see on the one hand the perpetuity of the 
idea contained in this dogma; and on the other, the con- 
tinuance of the disorders we have depicted, which must 
inevitably occur in proportion to any departure from the 
Catholic dogma. 

The rationalistic school both denies and concedes this 
dogma, and it is alike absurd, whether it denies or re- 
ceives it. In the first place, it denies human solidarity, 
both in the religious and in the political order — in the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



239 



religious order, by denying the doctrine of the heredit- 
ary transmission of sin and penalty, which is the exclu- 
sive foundation of this dogma; and it denies it in the 
political order, by proclaiming maxims subversive of the 
doctrine of the solidarity of nations. Among these 
maxims that one requires a special notice which declares 
the principle of non-intervention, and also that other, 
which is its correlative, and according to which each 
person ought only to attend to his own affairs, and no 
one ought to concern himself about the affairs of his 
neighbor. These maxims are identical, and are only 
the pure expression of pagan egotism, without the ani- 
mosity of its malevolence. A people formed by the 
enervating doctrines of this school will hold no sym- 
pathies in common with other nations ; and if they do 
not consider all other nations as their enemies, it is 
because they have not the energy to do so. 

The rationalist liberal schools deny the solidarity of 
the family; they proclaim the principle of the legiti- 
mate qualification of all men for all public offices and for 
all state preferments ; and in doing this, they deny the 
action of ancestors upon their descendants, and the com- 
munication of the qualities of the first to the second by 
hereditary transmission. But while they deny this trans- 
mission, they at the same time recognize it in two dif- 
ferent ways: first, by proclaiming the perpetual identity 
of nations ; and secondly, by proclaiming the principle 
of an hereditary monarchy. The principle of national 
identity either signifies nothing, or it means that there 
is a community of merits and demerits, of glories and 
disasters, of talents and adaptations, between past and 
present generations, between the present and the future ; 
and this same community is altogether inexplicable, un- 



240 



ESSAY ON" CATHOLICISM, 



less we consider it as the result of an hereditary trans- 
mission. On the other hand, an hereditary monarchy, 
considered as a fundamental institution of state, is a 
contradictory and absurd institution, if we deny the 
virtue of transmission by blood, which is the constitutive 
principle of all the historic aristocracies. 

Finally, the rationalist liberal school, in its repulsive 
materialism, attributes to riches, which are transferable, 
the virtue which it denies to blood, which is transmitted. 
The power of the rich appears more lawful to this school 
than the power of the noble. 

After this ephemeral and contradictory school come 
the socialist schools, which, while they accept all the 
principles of the liberals, at the same time deny all the 
consequences they deduce from them. The socialist 
schools adopt from the rationalist liberal school the 
negation of the solidarity of humanity, in the political 
and in the religious order ; and, after having denied 
with this school the transmission of sin and of penalty 
in the religious order, they also deny, in opposition to 
it, the existence of sin and of penalty. After having, 
in the political order, affirmed with this school the prin- 
ciple of the legitimate aptitude of all men to fill all the 
functions and dignities of the state, they go still further, 
and assert that this principle logically brings with it 
the suppression of an hereditary monarchy, and conse- 
quently involves the destruction of the monarchy itself, 
which, in ceasing to be hereditary, becomes a dangerous 
and useless institution. After this, it is not difficult for 
them to prove, the native equality of man once granted, 
that this equality brings with it the suppression of all 
aristocratic distinctions, and consequently the suppres- 
sion of the electoral census, in which they cannot recog- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



241 



nize, without an evident contradiction, the mysterious 
virtue that they refuse to blood, of conferring sovereign 
attributes. The people, according to the socialists, have 
not thrown off the yoke of the Pharaohs, in order to 
submit to that of the tyrants of Babylon or of Assyria ; 
nor are they so utterly destitute of power and right, 
that they will deliver themselves up to the rapacity of 
the rich, after having freed themselves from the tyranny 
of the insolent nobles. They consider that the liberal 
school is guilty of a manifest absurdity when it denies 
the solidarity of the family, (which the socialists like- 
wise reject,) and afterward admits the solidarity of the 
nation. The socialists accept the first of these prin- 
ciples in common with the liberals, but they absolutely 
deny the second as contradictory of the first, and they 
assert both the perfect equality of all nations and of 
all men. 

From these principles result the following conse- 
quences : All men being entirely and perfectly equal, 
it is absurd to distribute them in groups, since this mode 
of distribution can have no other foundation than the 
solidarity of these same groups ; and the liberal schools 
reject this solidarity, as the perpetual source of inequal- 
ity among men. If this is accepted, the logical deduc- 
tion is the dissolution of the family; and this conse- 
quence is so unavoidably deduced from all the theories 
and principles of liberalism, that without it these prin- 
ciples cannot be realized in political associations. They 
will in vain proclaim the idea of equality. This idea 
will not take root so long as the family remains. The 
family is a tree of so superior a growth that its wonderful 
fecundity perpetually produces the idea of a nobility. 

But the destruction of the family necessarily involves 



242 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



the destruction of the right of property. Man cannot 
be a possessor, in his own right, of the soil, for a very 
good reason : we cannot conceive of the ownership of 
a thing without there existing a certain kind of pro- 
portion between the proprietor and the thing owned ; 
and between the soil and the man none whatever can 
exist. In order fully to prove this, it is sufficient to 
observe that man is a transitory being, and land a 
thing which never dies or passes away. This being the 
case, it is contrary to human reason that the earth 
should become the property of man, considered indi- 
vidually. The institution of property is absurd if you 
suppress the institution of the family ; for the reason of 
its existence must either rest in itself, or in other cor- 
porations which are similar to it, as are the religious 
orders. The earth, which never dies, cannot be pos- 
sessed except by a religious or a family association, 
which, like it, never passes away. The liberal school 
implicitly suppresses the domestic association, the fam- 
ily; and it explicitly suppresses the religious associa- 
tion, or at least the monastic association, from which 
proceeds the destruction of the right of property in the 
soil, as a logical consequence of their principles. This 
destruction is so inevitably a consequence of the prin- 
ciples of the liberal school, that it has always signalized 
the period of its domination by the confiscation of the 
property of the Church, and by the suppression of re- 
ligious institutions and the rights of primogeniture. Nor 
does it seem aware of the fact, that by these acts of con- 
fiscation and suppression it effects but little as regards 
the assertion of its principles ; while, as regards its inter- 
ests as a proprietor, it goes too far. The liberal school, 
which is far from being learned, has never understood 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



243 



that the earth, in order to be susceptible of appropria- 
tion, must fall into hands which could perpetually pre- 
serve its ownership; and consequently, that the suppres- 
sion of all rights of primogeniture and the expropriation 
of the property of the Church, and, added to this, the 
interdiction to the Church of the right of acquisition, is 
equivalent to the irrevocable condemnation of the right 
of property. Neither has this school ever compre- 
hended that, rigorously and logically speaking, the 
earth cannot be the object of individual, but only of 
social appropriation, and that this last form of appro- 
priation can only exist under the monastic form, or 
under the domestic form of primogeniture, which, con- 
sidered in the light of perpetuity, are essentially the 
same thing, since both have an unending existence. 
The abolition of all civil and ecclesiastical mortmain, 
so vehemently insisted on by the liberals, will bring 
with it sooner or later, but at no distant day, a uni- 
versal divestiture of property. Then the liberal school 
will learn what it now ignores, that no right of property 
can exist except what is found in mortmain, and it will 
then comprehend that the earth, which is of itself per- 
petual, cannot become the subject-matter of appropria- 
tion for the living, who pass away, but for the dead, who 
live always. 

When the socialists, after denying that the family asso- 
ciation is an implicit deduction from the axioms of the 
liberal school, and that the Church has a right to acquire 
property, a principle recognized by them and by the lib- 
erals ; when, after denying this, they deny the right of 
property, they finish the work of the professedly candid 
doctors of liberalism ; for communism, after having sup- 
pressed the right of individual ownership, proclaims the 



244 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



state to be the universal and absolute proprietor of all 
property. Although, as respects true principles, this 
idea is monstrous, yet, if we admit the views of the 
liberal school, it is not absurd. To be convinced of 
this, it is only requisite to reflect, that if, in accordance 
with these principles, the dissolution of the family is 
once consummated, the question of the right of property 
rests solely between individuals and the state. If we 
consider the subject under this aspect, it is clear that 
the titles of the state are superior to those of indi- 
viduals, inasmuch as those of the first are by their 
nature perpetual, and those of the second cannot last 
longer than the family association. 

From the principle of the perfect equality of all na- 
tions, as a logical deduction from the principles of the 
liberal school, the socialists infer, or I infer for them, 
the following consequences : as from the entire equality 
of all the families who compose the state, the liberal 
school deduces, as a logical consequence, the non-exist- 
ence of the solidarity of the domestic association ; in the 
same way, and for the same reason, from the perfect 
equality in the bosom of humanity of all nations, results 
the negation of the doctrine of a political solidarity. 
But if the nation has no solidarity, we are compelled 
to deny of it what we logically deny of the family, 
in the supposition of its having no solidarity. In 
depriving the family of its solidarity, we destroy, in 
the first place, that secret and mysterious link which 
unites the present with past and future ages, and 
consequently we deprive it of that which it holds as 
its imprescriptible right, that of participating in the re- 
nown of its ancestors, and likewise the power to trans- 
mit to its descendants a reflection of its own glory. Pur- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



245 



suing this argument, we must deny to the nation deprived 
of solidarity, what we deny to the family deprived of soli- 
darity ; that is, we must despoil it of all connecting links 
of the present with past and future ages, so that nothing 
remains of its past glories, nor can it have any claims 
to fame in the future. A consequence of denying the 
solidarity of the family, is the destruction in man of that 
love of home which constitutes the happiness of domestic 
society; and this must logically be attended with a simi- 
lar result for the nation, namely, the radical destruction 
of that love of country which elevates the citizen above 
himself, and impels him to undertake the most heroic 
actions. 

Thus, the negation of the dogma of solidarity involves 
the following results, both in the domestic and the polit- 
ical association : The suppression of all love of family 
and of patriotism, which is love of country ; the destruc- 
tion of all continuity in time and of all continuity of 
glory; and lastly, the entire dissolution of domestic and 
of political society, which can neither exist nor be 
conceived without a connecting link between different 
eras, without a common inheritance of glory, and with- 
out a communion of these two great affections which 
control mankind. 

The socialist schools are more logical than the liberal 
school, but they are not so much so as they would seem 
to be at first sight, and they do not pursue their prin- 
ciples, from consequence to consequence, up to an ulti- 
mate conclusion. This conclusion, however, if we admit 
their premises, not only proceeds from these premises, 
but is a logical necessity arising from their adoption. 
The proof of this is found in the universally received 
fact, that the socialists are in practice what they refuse 

22 



246 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



to acknowledge themselves to be in theory. Theoret- 
ically, they remain Frenchmen, Italians, and Germans ; 
practically, they are citizens of the world, and, like the 
world, their country has no boundaries. In their fatu- 
ity, they ignore that, when all boundaries are removed, 
there is no longer a country; and where there is no 
country there are no men, except, indeed, they may 
happen to be socialists. 

Among parties who combat for supremacy, the victory 
belongs, of right, to the most logical. This ought to be 
so in principle, and is so in fact, as is proved by a uni- 
versal and constant experience. Humanly speaking, 
Catholicism, owes its success to the soundness of its 
logic, and, if it were not led by the hand of God, its 
logic would suffice to make it triumph even to the re- 
motest corners of the world. This will more clearly 
appear in the following chapter. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Continuation of the same subject— Socialist contradictions. 

The liberal school, as w T e have demonstrated in the 
preceding chapter, has established the premises from 
which are drawn socialist deductions ; and the socialist 
schools have only drawn the consequences that result 
from the premises of the liberal school. The two schools 
are not distinguished by their respective ideas, but by 
the greater or less degree of boldness with which they 
proclaim them. The question between them being thus 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



247 



placed, it is evident that to the most fearless belongs 
the victory, and the most intrepid is undoubtedly the 
one which, without stopping half way, accepts principles 
with their consequences. To the socialists, then, must 
be awarded a definitive victory in this discussion. 

The rigorous logic which they claim to make use of, 
and of which they have made an ostentatious display in 
their controversies with the liberal school, have acquired 
for them a considerable reputation for being logical and 
consistent, which, if it is up to a certain point justly due 
them, is far from being fully so. To be more logical 
than the most illogical and contradictory of all the 
schools, is but a slight distinction, and one of little 
importance. The socialists must establish their repu- 
tation upon higher grounds, if they would really merit 
it. They must not only demonstrate that they are rela- 
tively logical and consistent, but they must also be so 
absolutely. Then they must not only prove that their 
reasoning is absolutely logical and consistent, but that 
it is also founded on true premises; because, to be logical 
and consistent in error, is only a special manner of being 
illogical and inconsistent. There can be no true logic 
nor real consistency except in absolute truth. 

Now socialism fails to meet either of these conditions. 
It is contradictory because it is not one, as is shown by 
the variety of its schools, which are symbolic of the 
diversity of its doctrines ; and it is inconsistent, be- 
cause, like the liberal school, it refuses to accept, though 
not to the same extent, all the consequences arising 
from its principles ; and finally, it is untrue, for its 
premises are false, and the inferences deduced from 
them are absurd. 

That socialism cannot accept all the consequences of 



248 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



its own principles, we have already seen in the preceding 
chapter, where we have proved that it has not admitted, 
as a logical result of the negation of all solidarity, the 
dissolution of political society, but has only proposed 
the annihilation of the domestic association, It is gen- 
erally supposed that socialism invokes its own destruc- 
tion, by the extreme consequences it deduces from its 
principles; but I am of opinion that it will happen quite 
otherwise, and that the modesty of its demands will 
prove fatal to it. For example, with regard to the 
present question, good logic requires that it should de- 
mand that a nation should change its name with each 
successive generation. If we accept the doctrine of 
solidarity, I can readily understand that the national 
name should be one, since the nation remains a unit 
throughout the entire duration of its history. That the 
nation which was governed by Clovis should continue to 
bear the same name under Louis Philippe is readily under- 
stood, and not only conceivable, but very natural, and 
not only natural, but it becomes necessary from the 
moment that we admit the solidarity of the French 
nation, in which there exists a communion of glories 
and disasters, uniting the past with the present and 
future generations. But what is intelligible, natural, 
and necessary, according to the doctrine of solidarity, 
is unintelligible, absurd, and unnatural, if we admit the 
doctrine that every generation interrupts the continuity 
of national renown, and of the course of time. This 
system presents to us as many different families and 
nations as there are generations; and logic exacts in 
this case that the names, which are the expression of 
things, should be subjected to the same vicissitudes as 
the things themselves. Therefore, with each successive 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



249 



generation there should be a corresponding change in 
the names of families and nations. That this deduction 
presents a conclusion which is both ludicrous and absurd 
no one can deny, but the grotesque and absurd are the 
logical consequences of the principle announced by the 
socialists : and this is precisely what we have under- 
taken to demonstrate. It only then remains for social- 
ism to choose the manner of its death, as between the 
illogical and the absurd. 

The socialist schools have had no difficulty in proving 
that if the liberal school rejects a domestic, political, and 
religious solidarity, it must also deny the solidarity of 
the nation and of the monarchy; and that they ought 
of necessity to suppress in the national common law the 
institution of the monarchy, and in the international 
common law the constitutive differences of nations. But 
the socialist schools, with an inconsistency beyond that 
of the liberal school, (absurd and contradictory as this 
school is,) afterward acknowledge the highest, most uni- 
versal, and most inconceivable, humanly speaking, of all 
solidarities, that is to say, the solidarity of humanity. 
The motto of liberty, equality, and fraternity, as the 
common patrimony of all men, either signifies nothing, 
or it means that there is a solidarity in humanity. The 
recognition of this solidarity, separated from the others, 

and from the religious dogma which teaches and ex- 
es c 

pounds it, is an act of faith so supernatural and entire, 
that I cannot even conceive of it, accustomed as I am, 
being a Catholic, to believe what I do not understand. 

To believe in the equality of all men, when I see them 
all unequal ; to believe in the existence of liberty, when 
I behold servitude everywhere established ; to believe 

that all men are brothers, when history teaches me that 

09* 



250 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



they are enemies ; to believe that there is a common 
inheritance of misfortune and glory for all men, when 
I can discover only individual misfortune and glory ; 
to believe that I only exist for humanity, when I have 
the inherent consciousness that I refer humanity to my- 
self ; to believe that this same humanity is the center 
toward which I refer all my actions, when I make myself 
my own center ; and finally, to believe that I ought to 
believe all these things, when those who propose them 
to me as the objects of belief assert that I should only 
believe in my reason, which rejects them all, — there is 
in all this so great a disproportion, and so inconceivable 
an aberration, that I am overwhelmed, and as it were 
stupefied with amazement. And my astonishment in- 
creases when I perceive, that the very men who affirm 
the solidarity of humanity reject the solidarity of the 
family, which is equivalent to asserting that enemies are 
brothers, and that brothers ought not to be united in a 
fraternal bond. When the same men who affirm the 
solidarity of humanity deny a political solidarity, they 
affirm that we hold nothing in common with our fellow- 
citizens, and everything in common with strangers. 
When these men who affirm the solidarity of humanity 
deny the solidarity of religion, they affirm the effect and 
deny the cause. From all this results the logical deduc- 
tion, that the socialist schools are both illogical and 
absurd. They are illogical because, after having demon- 
strated, in opposition to the liberal school, that one can- 
not reject certain solidarities and admit others, they yet 
fall into this very error when they accept one alone and 
reject all the others. They are absurd, because the very 
dogma which they admit is precisely one of those dogmas 
which surpasses reason, and which faith alone can im- 



LIBERALISM, AXD SOCIALISM. 



251 



pose; and because this very proposition is made by 
those who reject faith, and proclaim the imprescriptible 
right of reason to an entire independence and a sover- 
eign rule. 

The socialist schools would, I think, be greatly em- 
barrassed if their dogmas were subjected to a rigorous 
examination, and a categorical answer exacted from 
them, of the following direct question : From what do 
you infer that there exists a solidarity among men, and 
that they are brothers, equal and free ? This same dif- 
ficulty also arises for a Catholic solution, and receives 
one, for Catholicism admits the obligation of answering 
all questions propounded to it; but socialism, the most 
rationalistic of all the schools, does not acknowledge the 
same obligation, and it leaves the objection unanswered, 
although it is especially directed against its doctrine. 
These abstract formulas have certainly not found their 
solution in history. If history sustains any philosoph- 
ical system, it is not, assuredly, that which proclaims 
the solidarity, liberty, equality, and fraternity of man- 
kind, but rather that formula so forcibly expressed 
by Hobbes, which declares universal, incessant, and 
simultaneous war to be the natural and primitive state 
of man. 

Man would seem to be, from his birth, under the mys- 
terious power of some malefic influence, and destined to 
endure an inexorable condemnation: all that surrounds 
him appears to oppose him, and he is in antagonism with 
all things. The first breath of air which blows upon 
him, the first rays of the sun which strike him, are but 
the beginning of the war waged against him by exterior 
forces. All his vital energies rebel against their dis- 
tressing pressure, and his whole existence is filled with 



252 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



lamentations. The greater number do not survive this 
infancy of -sorrow, but are cut off by death. Those who 
are able to resist the early trials of life, only do so to 
enter upon the path of their dolorous passion; and, after 
unceasing combats and many afflictions, they ultimately 
reach the final catastrophe, overcome with weariness and 
crushed by suffering. The earth is harsh and insatiable 
toward them ; she exacts their efforts, that is to say, 
their life; and in exchange for the life she takes from 
them, she scarcely proffers a drop of water from her 
fountains to allay their thirst, or a single grain of wheat 
from her treasures, to appease their hunger. Nor does 
she even thus prolong their life that they may live, but 
that they may continue to give her their labor ; like the 
tyrant, who only sustains his slaves in order that he may 
a longer time enjoy the fruit of their servitude. We 
everywhere behold the feeble, victims of the tyranny of 
the strong. 

A woman who was distinguished by her talents, wish- 
ing to give a convincing proof of her genius, asked her- 
self one day what would be the greatest and most remark- 
able of paradoxes ; nor could she find one more surprising 
than to affirm, with a tone of authority, that slavery is of 
modern and liberty of ancient existence. Whether, by 
dint of repetition, she forced herself to believe this asser- 
tion, I cannot tell, but it is certain that the world received 
her affirmation, and, what is more, the world is quite ca- 
pable of so foolish an act of faith. As to the idea of 
equality, I know not if it be possible, (but, what is 
impossible to a rationalist philosopher?) I know not if 
it be possible for this idea to have found its historic and 
philosophic origin in the division of mankind into castes, 
the ones invested, as by right, with the power to com- 



LIBERALISM, AXD SOCIALISM. 



253 



mand, and the others condemned to obey, the latter con- 
stantly seeking occasions for revolutions and war, and the 
former making use of tyrannical means to assure their 
supremacy. The idea of fraternity undoubtedly arose 
during those lengthened periods of peace and prosperity 
which form the golden thread of history. As to the idea 
of solidarity, who does not see from whence it came ? 
Every one knows that the Romans, who represent an 
abridgment of all antiquity, gave the same name to 
foreigners and enemies. This name was undoubtedly 
symbolical of the solidarity of humanity! 

If these ideas cannot have had their origin in history, 
whose every page, blotted with tears and written in 
blood, condemns and refutes them, then we must look 
for them either in those primitive ages which precede 
the historic times, or we must seek them directly from 
pure reason. With regard to this latter origin, I will 
assert, without fear of contradiction, that pure reason 
can only find its exercise in things of pure reason. 
But, the question here is to establish what are the con- 
stitutive elements of human nature: it is not a subject 
for the investigations of unaided reason, but a fact, 
which is for us very obscure, and requires to be eluci- 
dated by careful observation, in order that a clearer 
light may be obtained, Eespecting that primitive era, 
which was anterior to the ages of history, it is clear 
that we can have no knowledge of it, except through 
revelation. This granted, I am authorized to put my 
question in this manner : If what you affirm cannot 
originate either in the exercise of reason, which ignores 
it, nor in history, which contradicts it, nor in an era 
anterior to the ages of history, which is unknown to 
you, by what right, then, do you affirm that it has not 



254 ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 

been revealed ? Who has told you so ? And if you can 
nowhere find an authority for your opinion, why do you 
make such an affirmation ? Shakspeare has well de- 
scribed your theories, when he says : they are words, 
words, and nothing but words . . . and I add, words 
which alike destroy those who utter and those who listen 
to them. 

The dogmas of Catholicism have a potent virtue not 
to be found in the affirmations of rationalism, which 
have in them no efficacy. In the declarations of Ca- 
tholicism rests the power to give life and to take it 
away, to destroy the living and resuscitate the dead. 
These words are never uttered in vain, nor do they ever 
fail to inspire terror, because none can tell whether they 
bring life or death, although all acknowledge their sover- 
eign power. Once, at the decline of day, when the shades 
of evening began to spread a veil over the transparent and 
tranquil waters, the Saviour entered a frail bark, accompa- 
nied by his disciples; and, while our Lord slept, overcome 
with weariness, there arose a frightful tempest, and the 
vessel being in danger of sinking, the disciples began to 
pray; when the Saviour, awakening, uttered some words, 
w T hich appeased the wind and the sea. Then, turning to 
his disciples, he addressed other words to them, and they 
were suddenly seized with great fear and trembling : et 
timuerunt timore magno. The tempest had inspired 
them with less awe and terror than the words of the 
Saviour. At another time, two men, who were tormented 
by demons, presented themselves to our Saviour, and im- 
plored his mercy. And the Lord said to the demons, 
Gro. The devils, obeying his voice, departed from the 
men, and took possession of some unclean animals, when 
these ran violently into the sea and perished in its waters. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



255 



Those who watched the herd were terrified at the effect 
of the divine word, and fled, communicating their terror 
to the people of the neighboring village, who assembled, 
and in a body besought the Saviour to depart from the 
country: Pastor es autem fugerunt, et venientes in civi- 
tatem, nuntiaverunt omnia, et de eis qui demonia habu- 
erant: et ecce iota civitas exiit ohviam Jesu : et viso eo 
rogaverunt ut transiret afinibus eorum.* The omnipo- 
tence of the divine word was more terrible to these 
people than the enchantments of the infernal spirits. 

When I hear a divine, that is to say, a Catholic doc- 
trine announced, I immediately pause, and consider 
what it portends, as I know that it most assuredly pro- 
claims either a miracle of divine justice or a prodigy of 
divine mercy. If this word is pronounced by the Church, 
I feel that it announces salvation ; if it comes from any 
other source, it threatens death. Ask the world why it 
is filled with fear and terror ; why sad and distressing 
rumors everywhere prevail ; why this anguish and dis- 
turbance in the heart of nations, which, like men in a 
troubled dream, feel themselves to be on the verge of 
an abyss, into which they must fall. To ask the world 
this, is the same as to ask why men are alarmed, when 
they behold -a madman or a knave enter into a powder 
magazine with a lighted torch. The one does not know, 
the other knows too well, the qualities of powder and 
the effect produced upon it by fire. What has, up to 
the present day, saved the world is, that the Church 
was in ancient times sufficiently powerful to extirpate 
heresies. These heresies principally consisted in teach- 
ing a different doctrine from that of the Church, and 



* St. Matthew, viii. 38, 34. 



256 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



these doctrines were hidden under the very terms that 
she makes use of. They would long since have brought 
about the final catastrophe of the world, had the Church 
been unable to eradicate them. The real danger for 
human society commenced when the great heresy of the 
sixteenth century obtained a right of citizenship in 
Europe. Since then every revolution has endangered 
the life of society. The reason for this is that, all our 
revolutions having arisen from the Protestant heresy, 
they are substantially heretical. We see this by the 
attempt they all make to give a reason for their exist- 
ence, and to render it legitimate by words and maxims 
taken from the Scriptures. The sansculottism of the 
first French revolution sought its historical antecedents 
and its titles of nobility in the humble poverty of the 
meek Lamb of God ; and among its votaries were found 
those who recognized in Marat a messiah, and his apostle 
in Robespierre. The revolution of 1830 gave rise to the 
doctrine of St. Simon, whose mystical extravagance was 
the announcement of a kind of corrected and expurgated 
gospel. The doctrines of socialism, expressed in evan- 
gelical formulas, gushed forth, like an impetuous storm- 
swollen torrent, from the revolution of 1848. Previous 
to the sixteenth century, men had beheld nothing like it. 
I do not intend, in making this statement, to assert that 
the Catholic world had not suffered great tribulations, 
nor that the Christian societies of ancient times did not 
experience great vicissitudes and trials; but what I wish 
to say is, that these fluctuations were not powerful 
enough to overthrow society, and that these sufferings 
did not endanger its life. Now, it is quite otherwise. A 
battle is lost for society in the streets of Paris, and Euro- 
pean society is suddenly overthrown, as if by a thunder- 
bolt : e cadde come corpo motto cade. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



257 



The revolutions of modern times have, then, an uncon- 
querable and destructive force which the revolutions of 
ancient times did not possess ; and this destructive force 
is necessarily satanic, since it cannot be divine. Before 
quitting this subject, it appears to me opportune to make 
here an important observation, which I wish to suggest 
for the reflection of my readers. We have a precise 
account given us of two conversations of the angel of 
darkness : the one was held with Eve in the terrestrial 
paradise, and the other with the Saviour in the desert. 
In the first, Satan made use of the very words of God, 
perverting them to suit himself ; in the second, he quoted 
Scripture, giving it his own interpretation. Is it rash 
to infer that as the word of God, rightly understood, 
has alone the power to give life, so that word, when 
perverted, has alone the power to cause death? If this 
is so, does it not fully explain why the revolutions of 
modern times, in which the word of God is more or less 
corrupted, have this destructive force ? 

Resuming, now, the investigation of the socialist con- 
tradictions, we contend that they cannot logically deny 
a religious, domestic, and political solidarity, if, as we 
have just proved, they do not at the same time deny the 
solidarity of humanity, and with it the principles of lib- 
erty, equality, and fraternity, which have in this soli- 
darity alone their cause and origin. But, as the rejec- 
tion of all these, fundamental doctrines of socialism 
involves the destruction of the entire edifice, it logically 
follows that socialism cannot be consistent if, commenc- 
ing by the negation of Catholicism, it does not conclude 
by its own negation. I know that, in professing the 
dogma of human solidarity, the socialists are far from 
embracing on this point the Catholic doctrine. I know 

23 



258 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



that between these two doctrines there is an essential 
difference, scarcely concealed by an identity of names. 
Humanity exists for the Catholic in the individuals 
who constitute it ; while it exists for the socialist in 
both an individual and concrete manner ; so that, 
when socialists and Catholics affirm the solidarity of 
humanity, although they appear to assert the same 
thing, they really affirm two different things. But this 
does not prevent the socialist contradiction from being so 
conspicuous that it is impossible to deny it. Although, 
according to the socialist hypothesis, humanity is the 
universal intelligence which is expressed by special 
groups designated as families and nations, yet logic 
exacts that all these groups should obey in themselves, 
and of themselves, its own law, and that there should 
be a solidarity between them, if its law is that of soli- 
darity. Hence, the necessity of either denying the 
solidarity of humanity, or of affirming it also in indi- 
viduals, families, and the state. There is nothing clearer 
than that socialism is alike incompatible with this radical 
negation and with this absolute affirmation. To deny 
the solidarity of humanity is to deny socialism, and to 
affirm the solidarity of the social groups is to deny 
it in another way. The world cannot submit to the 
law of socialism without first renouncing the laws of 
reason. 

It may be seen from what we have just established, 
how little the socialist doctors, and especially the most 
celebrated among them, deserve the reputation for con- 
sistency which they have enjoyed. Mr. Proudhon, in 
his discussions with those partisans of the new gospel who 
advocate the system of the expropriation of all individ- 
ual rights, and consequently the concentration in the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



259 



state of all domestic, civil, political, social, and religious 
rights, has not found it difficult to prove that communism, 
that is to say, governmentalism elevated to its highest 
power, is absurd and extravagant regarded in the point 
of view of these new sectaries. In effect, communism, 
considering the state as an absolute unity which concen- 
ters in itself all rights and absorbs all individuals, must 
necessarily consider it as in the highest degree repre- 
senting the principle of solidarity, as unity and solidarity 
are one and the same thing viewed under two different 
aspects. Catholicism, the depositary of the dogma of 
solidarity, always derives this dogma from unity, through 
which it is alone possible, and which renders it necessary. 
Now, as the starting-point of socialism is precisely the 
negation of this dogma, it is clear that communism con- 
tradicts itself, since it denies it in theory and recognizes 
it in practice, denies it in its principles and affirms 
it in its applications. If the negation of the solidarity 
of the family brings with it the negation of the family, 
so the negation of political solidarity involves the nega- 
tion of all government. This last negation proceeds 
equally from the idea held by socialism, that equality 
and liberty are common to all men alike, since this 
equality and this liberty cannot be conceived as limited 
by a government, but only by the free action and the 
free reaction that individuals naturally exercise upon 
each other. Mr. Proudhon is then consistent when he 
says, in his Confessions of a Revolutionist: "All men 
are free and equal. Society is then, as well by its na- 
ture as through the function for which it is destined, 
autonomous, that is to say, having the right of self- 
government. The sphere of activity of each citizen 
being determined by the natural division of work, and 



260 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



by the choice which he makes of a profession, and the 
social functions being combined so as to produce an 
harmonious effect, order results from the free action 
of all, from which must proceed the absolute negation 
of government. Therefore, he who attempts to govern 
me is a tyrant and usurper, and I declare him to be my 
enemy." 

But if Mr. Proudhon is consistent when he rejects all 
government, he is only partially so when he designates 
this negation as the last of the negations contained in 
the socialist doctrines. He has denied the domestic 
solidarity, in the negation of the family; he has denied 
the political solidarity, in the negation of the govern- 
ment, while at the very time that he rejects these two 
solidarities, he affirms by an inconceivable contradiction 
the solidarity of humanity, which is the common foun- 
dation of both. We have already demonstrated that to 
affirm equality and liberty, is the same as to affirm hu- 
man solidarity. Nor does the contradiction stop here, 
for at the same time that he declares the doctrine of 
equality and liberty in the Confessions of a Revolutionist, 
he denies the doctrine of fraternity in the sixth chapter 
of his book upon Uconomick Contradictions, in these 
words: " Do you speak to me of fraternity? Yes, I 
am willing to admit that we are brothers, with the under- 
standing that I shall be the older brother and you the 
younger, and that society, our common mother, shall 
honor my right of primogeniture and my services by 
granting me a double portion. You say, you will pro- 
vide for my wants according to my means; but I un- 
derstand, on the contrary, that my wants will be pro- 
vided for in proportion to my work, otherwise I cease 
to labor." 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



261 



We here perceive a double contradiction, because there 
is not only a contradiction in affirming the solidarity of 
humanity, when we deny the solidarity of the family 
and of society, but there is also a still greater contra- 
diction in the negation of fraternity, at the same time 
that the principle of liberty and equality among men is 
affirmed. Equality, liberty, and fraternity are princi- 
ples which have a mutual dependence, and which resolve 
themselves into each other. To choose the one and to 
reject the other, is to take what is rejected, and reject 
what is taken; to deny what is affirmed, and at the same 
time to affirm what is denied. 

Respecting the question of government, the negation 
of all government by Mr. Proudhon is only an apparent 
negation. If the idea of government is not antagonistic 
to the socialist idea, it is not necessary for the socialist 
to deny the first ; and if there is an antagonism between 
these two ideas, it is a gross inconsistency to proclaim 
in another form that right of government which has just 
been denied. Is ow Mr. Proudhon, who denies the right 
of government, the symbol of unity and of political 
solidarity, acknowledges it in another manner, and under 
another form, when he recognizes and proclaims the 
principle of unity and social solidarity in the following 
words : " Only society, that is to say, the collective being, 
can follow its inclinations and abandon itself to its free 
will without fear of committing an absolute and immedi- 
ate error. The superior reason which resides in it, and 
which it gradually eliminates through the manifestations 
of the multitude and the reflection of individuals, always 
leads it in the right direction. The philosopher is in- 
capable of discovering truth by intuition, and if he hap- 
pens to attempt to direct society he is in great danger 

23* 



262 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



of substituting his own ideas, which are always ineffica- 
cious and insufficient, in place of the eternal laws of 
order, and he thus precipitates society into an abyss of 
disorder. He requires a guide, and what can this guide 
be but the law of progress, that logic inherent in hu- 
manity. 7 '* 

In the preceding paragraph, Mr. Proudhon affirms 
unity, solidarity, and social infallibility — precisely the 
three things that communism affirms or supposes to exist 
in the state — and he denies the capacity and right of 
individuals to govern nations, which is exactly what is 
denied by communism. From which it follows that 
Proudhonism and communism arrive at the same con- 
clusions by different means. They both assert the right 
of government, and with it the unity and solidarity of 
human societies. The government is infallible for both, 
that is to say, it is omnipotent ; and being so, it excludes 
all idea of liberty in individuals, who, placed under the 
jurisdiction of an omnipotent and infallible government, 
can only be regarded as slaves. Whether we hold that 
the right of government resides in the state, the sym- 
bol of political unity, or in society considered as a col- 
lective being, in either case, according to socialist doc- 
trine, all social rights are condensed in the state, and 
consequently the individual considered as such is con- 
demned to the most complete servitude. 

Mr. Proudhon, then, does precisely the contrary of 
what he asserts, and he is quite the contrary of what he 
appears to be. He proclaims liberty and equality, and 
yet establishes tyranny ; he denies the doctrine of soli- 
darity, and at the same time he supposes it; he calls 

* Confessions of a Revolutionist. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



263 



himself an anarchist, and yet has a violent desire to 
govern. He seems bold, but he is timid; his boldness 
consists in mere words, and his ideas are timorous. He 
is thought dogmatic, but he is skeptical; his skepticism 
is in substance, and his dogmatism in form. He solemnly 
announces that he is about to proclaim new and strange 
truths, but he simply echoes old and exploded errors. 

His apothegm, property is tJieft, has charmed the 
French by its air of originality and ingenuity; but it 
may be well to remind them that on this side of the 
Pyrenees this saying is very ancient. From the days 
of Viriato up to the present time, every highwayman 
who threatens the life of the traveler if he does not give 
up to him his purse, is said to commit a theft, and, like 
a thief, he takes what he can get. Mr. Proudhon has 
only stolen his apothegm from the Spanish banditti, as 
they steal the purse of the traveler. In the same way 
that he professes to be original when he is in fact a pla- 
giarist, so he calls himself the prophet of the future, 
when he is only the apostle of the past. His principal 
artifice consists in expressing the idea that he affirms 
with the word which contradicts it. For example, every 
one calls despotism, despotism. Mr. Proudhon calls it 
anarchy; and when he has given the thing affirmed its 
contradictory name, with this name he combats its friends, 
and with the thing itself its adversaries. By his com- 
munist sentiments, which are at the bottom of his sys- 
tem, he terrifies capitalists, and by the word anarchy he 
frightens and puts to flight his friends the communists; 
then he looks around him to observe the effect produced, 
and seeiog the first utterly dismayed, and the second 
silenced, he ridicules them all. Another artful device 
which he makes use of is to adopt a portion of each 



264 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



system, taking care not to admit enough to confound 
him with the supporters of any particular doctrine, and 
yet sufficient to excite the opposition of its adversaries. 
There are pages of his writings to which all the friends 
of order could subscribe ; then, other pages are intended 
for the partisans of revolution; while again, at other 
times, he expresses still other opinions in common with 
those entertained by the most fanatical democrats, and 
these sentiments are directed against the friends of 
order. Sometimes he ostentatiously displays the most 
shameless atheism, which he intends for the Catholics; 
and again he might be mistaken for a fervent Christian, 
when he wishes to provoke the materialists and atheists. 
The chief happiness of this man is to oblige every one 
to oppose him, and to resist every one. When he asserts 
that he regards all who attempt to control him as ene- 
mies, he has only revealed his secret in part; the rest 
consists in his being inimical to all who listen to and 
follow him. If the world should ever become converted 
to his doctrines, in order to oppose the world he would 
cease to profess them and would adopt others; and if the 
world should still continue to agree with him, he would 
assuredly hang himself upon the first tree. If there 
can be a greater misfortune than that of not being able 
to love — which is peculiarly the misfortune of Satan — 
it must be that of not wishing to be loved, which is the 
Proudhonian misfortune. And yet this man, frightful 
object of the divine wrath as he is, preserves some- 
where, in the most hidden depths of his gloomy and 
darkened being, a ray of light and love, which, although 
it is nearly obscured by the rapidly increasing shades, 
still distinguishes him from the infernal spirits. He is 
not utterly abandoned to hatred and darkness. He is 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



265 



the declared enemy of all literary, as of all moral ex- 
cellence: and yet without either knowing or desiring it, 
he attains both a literary and moral beauty in the few 
pages which he consecrates to the modest graces of 
chastity, to artless and pure love, and to the harmony 
and magnificence of Catholicism. His style then rises 
to the dignity and majesty of his subject, or breathes 
the graceful delicacy of the most refreshing idyl. 

If we consider Mr. Proudhon in himself, and sepa- 
rated from others, he is inexplicable and inconceivable. 
He is not a person, although he appears to be so, but he 
is a personification. Although he is in the highest de- 
gree contradictory and illogical, the world calls him 
logical because he is himself a consequence. He is the 
consequence of all the extravagant ideas, all the con- 
tradictory principles, all the absurd premises advanced 
during the past three centuries by modern rationalism. 
Thus, as the consequence supposes its premises, and the 
premises include their consequence, these three centuries 
ought necessarily to produce Mr. Proudhon, and Mr. 
Proudhon necessarily represents them. This is why the 
examination of either the ages or the man must give the 
same result. All the Proudhonian contradictions are 
found in the three last centuries, and Mr. Proudhon is 
the embodiment of all these antagonisms, and both are 
condensed in a book which, under this aspect, is the most 
remarkable work of the present age- — the "System of 
Economic}? Contradictions There is an absolute iden- 
tity between this book, its author, and the rationalist 
ages. The only difference that exists between them is 
in name and form. That which they all represent is- 
alternately expressed under the form of a book, a man, 
or an age. This explains why Mr. Proudhon never is. 



266 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



but always seems to be, original. He cannot be so, for 
the premises once given, there can be nothing less orig- 
inal than the consequence; and yet he always appears 
to be so, for what can seem more original than the con- 
centration in one man of all the contradictions of three 
contradictory ages? 

This does not mean that Mr. Proudhon is not in search 
of originality. Mr. Proudhon really seeks to be orig- 
inal when he undertakes to express by a formula the 
synthesis of all antinomies, and to find the supreme 
equation of all contradictions. But it is precisely here, 
that is, in the manifestation of his own individuality, that 
he discovers his incapacity. His equation is only the 
beginning of a new series of contradictions, and his 
synthesis that of a new succession of antinomies. For 
example, when placed between the right of property, 
which is the thesis, and communism, which is its an- 
tithesis, he seeks the synthesis in that right of property 
w r hich is not hereditary; he does not perceive that prop- 
erty which is not hereditary is not property, and conse- 
quently that his synthesis is no synthesis, because it 
does not suppress the contradiction, and is only an- 
other way of rejecting the vanquished thesis, and 
affirming the victorious antithesis. Or, when again, 
in order to express by a formula the synthesis he 
wishes, to establish, and which must, on the one hand, 
reconcile authority w T hich is the thesis, and on the other, 
liberty, which is its antithesis; when in order to do this 
he denies the right of government and proclaims an- 
archy, if he intends that there should be no government 
whatever, his synthesis is in this case only the negation 
of the thesis, which is authority, and the affirmation of 
the antithesis, which is human liberty. If, on the con- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



267 



trary, he means that an absolute and dictatorial power 
should only exist in society, and not in the state, in this 
case he merely denies the antithesis and affirms the the- 
sis by denying liberty and affirming the omnipotence of 
communism. In either case, where is the adjustment of 
things? where is the synthesis ? Mr. Proudhon is only 
successful when he is satisfied with being the personifi- 
cation of modern rationalism, which is in its nature ab- 
surd and contradictory; and he is only impotent when, 
wishing to display his individuality, he ceases to be a 
personification to become a person. 

I have carefully examined the theories of Mr. Proud- 
hon under every aspect, and I am satisfied that the 
salient characteristic of his intellectual physiognomy is 
a contempt of God and man. Never has any man 
sinned more deeply against humanity and the Holy 
Ghost. Whenever this chord of his heart resounds, it 
is always in an eloquent and vigorous strain. He 
himself does not then speak, but another speaks for 
him, who possesses him, and who causes him to fall into 
epileptic convulsions. He is then under the power of 
another who is greater than he, and who constrains him 
to sustain a perpetual dialogue. What he says at times 
is so extraordinary, and expressed in so strange a man- 
ner, that the soul remains amazed, not knowing if he 
who speaks is man or demon, or if he is in earnest or 
in jest. So far as Mr. Proudhon is concerned, if it 
rested with him, be would rather be regarded as demon 
than man. Man or devil, it is equally certain that upon 
his shoulders three ages of reprobation rest with crush- 
ing weight. 



268 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



CHAPTER V. 

Continuation of the same subject. 

Robert Owen appears to me to be the most consist- 
ent of all modern socialists, regarding tlie question under 
the point of view in which we have just examined it. 
He openly and cynically rejects all religions, the depos- 
itaries of religious and moral dogmas, and he utterly 
denies the obligations of duty, not only denying the col- 
lective responsibility which constitutes the dogma of 
solidarity, but likewise the individual responsibility 
which rests upon the dogma of the free will of man. 
Robert Owen first denies free will, and then the trans- 
mission of sin, and finally sin itself. So far, he is un- 
doubtedly logical and consistent in all his deductions; 
but when denying sin and free will he affirms the dis- 
tinction between moral good and evil, and when recog- 
nizing these distinctions between moral good and evil, 
he yet denies the penalty which is its necessary conse- 
quence, then Owen becomes inconsistent and absurd. 

Man, according to Robert Owen, acts in consequence 
of invincible convictions. These convictions are not 
only the result of his special organization, but also of 
the circumstances which surround him; and as he is 
neither the author of these circumstances nor of this 
organization, therefore they both act upon him fatally 
and necessarily. All this is logical and consistent, but 
it is the negation of free will; and when he makes this 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



269 



negation, and at the same time affirms the existence of 
good and evil, he is illogical, contradictory, and absurd. 
This absurdity even becomes inconceivable and monstrous, 
when our author proposes to found a society and a gov- 
ernment upon the juxtaposition of these irresponsible 
beings. The ideas of government and of society are 
correlative with that of human liberty. From the nega- 
tion of one proceeds the negation of the others, and he 
who does not affirm or deny them altogether, only simul- 
taneously affirms or denies the same thing. I am not 
aware that the annals of history present an example of 
a more complete blindness, inconsistency, and folly than 
that of Owen, when, after having denied individual re- 
sponsibility and liberty, he not only affirftis the necessity 
of society and of government, but goes farther, and is 
guilty of the wonderful contradiction of counseling the 
exercise of benevolence, justice, and love to those who 
according to him are neither responsible nor free, and are 
therefore deprived of the liberty either to love or to 
show themselves just or benevolent, if they wish to do so. 

The limits within which I proposed to confine myself 
in undertaking this work, prevent me from a more ex- 
tended investigation of the vast range of socialist con- 
tradictions. Those which we have already examined 
more than suffice to prove, beyond the possibility of 
doubt or controversy, the incontestable fact that social- 
ism, under whatever aspect we may consider it, involves 
a complete contradiction, and that from the contradic- 
tory assertions of its schools, can only result an utter 
confusion. Its inconsistency is so palpable that it would 
not be difficult to exhibit it clearly, and, as it were, in 
relief, even in those points in which all these sectaries 

24 



270 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



are united, and of the same opinion. If any negation 
is common to them, it is certainly that of the negation 
of the solidarity of the family of the nobility. All the 
revolutionary and socialist doctors unanimously concur 
in the denial of that communion of glories and misfor- 
tunes, of merits and demerits between ancestors and 
their descendants, which mankind has recognized through 
all ages as an established fact. Nevertheless these same 
revolutionists and socialists affirm of themselves in prac- 
tice, without knowing it, the very thing that they deny 
to others in theory. When the French revolution, 
bleeding and disheveled, trampled under foot all the 
national glories; when, inebriated with its triumphs, it 
considered a definitive victory as certain, it was seized 
with an undefinable aristocratic pride of race, which 
was in direct opposition to all its dogmas. One then 
beheld the more celebrated of the revolutionists with the 
pride of the ancient feudal barons, hesitating to grant 
to others the privilege of association with their illustri- 
ous families. My readers will remember the remarkable 
question which these doctors of the new law addressed 
to the immaculate aspirants to their favor: " What crime 
have you committed?" How unfortunate were those 
who were guilty of none, for never would be thrown 
open to them the gates of the capitol where the demi- 
gods of the revolution presided in terrible majesty. 
Mankind had established a nobility of virtue, the revo- 
lution instituted that of crime in its place. 

When, after the revolution of February, we saw the 
socialists and republicans divided into classes, separated 
from each other by an impassable gulf, and the repub- 
licans of yesterday heaping contumely and insult upon 
the republicans of to-day ; when others again more 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



271 



fortunate, and consequently more arrogant than the rest, 
exclaimed, All the glory is ours, for with us the title of 
republican is a family inheritance, and has been trans- 
mitted to us by blood, — what was this but the entire 
adoption of aristocratic sentiments by republicanism ? 

If we examine in succession all the revolutionary 
schools, we shall find them all disputing with each other 
for a family predominance, and attempting to trace a 
noble ancestry. The chief of one group is the illustrious 
St. Simon; of another, the distinguished Fourier; of a 
third, the patriot Babeuf. All have a patrimony, a 
glory, and a mission in common, and all are united with 
each other by the tie of a close solidarity. They all 
seek in past ages some personality so noble, high, and 
exalted that they may find in him a yet closer bond and 
common center. Some among them have chosen Plato 
as the glorious personification of ancient wisdom. The 
greater number, carried away by their mad ambition to 
the height of blasphemy, have not feared thus to pro- 
fane the holy name of the Redeemer of mankind. As 
one poor and abandoned, they would deny him; hum- 
ble, they would despise him; but their insolent pride 
has not forgotten that in his poverty, isolation and 
humility, he was a king, and that the blood of kings 
flowed in his veins. As to Mr. Proudhon, he is the 
perfect type of socialist pride, which is, in its turn, 
the extreme concentration of human arrogance. His 
vanity carries him to the most remote ages in search 
of an ancestry, which he traces with presumption up 
to the times almost contemporaneous with the creation, 
when the Hebrews flourished under the Mosaic institu- 
tions. We shall embrace a more favorable opportunity 
to show clearly that the title of Mr. Proudhon to nobility 



272 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



is still more ancient, and his race so illustrious, that in 
order to trace it to its source it is necessary to ascend 
still higher, and to arrive at an epoch not included in 
the narrow circle of history, and to beings who are in- 
finitely superior to man by the elevation and perfection 
of their nature. At present it suffices to assert that 
the socialist schools are irrevocably condemned to con- 
tradictions and absurdity ; that each one of their princi- 
ples is in opposition to that which precedes and that 
which follows it; that their practice is the complete re- 
futation of all their theories, and that their theories are 
the radical refutation of their conduct. 

Let us attempt to form an approximate idea of what 
the socialist edifice would be without those defects of 
proportion which so disfigure it, and deprive it of all 
regularity of architecture. After having seen what it 
is in the present day, with its contradictory dogmas, it 
would seem not to be inappropriate to examine briefly 
what it will become in the future, when the latent virtue 
which is in every theory being developed by the action of 
time, will triumph over its contradictions and inconsist- 
encies. The method of doing this is very simple. It 
suffices to take any proposition, no matter which one, 
that is unanimously accepted by the socialists of all the 
schools, and to draw from this proposition the inferences 
it comprises. 

The fundamental negation of socialism is the nega- 
tion of sin, which is the grand affirmation, and consid- 
ered as the center of all Catholic affirmations. 

From this negation a series of negations logically re- 
sult, some respecting the divine being, others respecting 
the human being, and others still respecting the social 
being. It would be impossible to investigate this entire 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



273 



series, besides being beyond the scope of our argument. 
It will answer the end we have in view to notice the 
most important of these negations. 

The socialists deny both the existence and the possi- 
bility of sin. This double negation involves the nega- 
tion of free will, which we cannot conceive of, unless 
human nature possesses the power of choosing between 
good and evil, of falling from a state of innocence into 
that of sin. 

If we deny the power of free will, we must also deny 
the responsibility of man. From the negation of re- 
sponsibility must proceed the negation of all penalty, 
and this denied, we reject both the divine government 
over man and the right of human government. There- 
fore, as regards the question of the right of government, 
the negation of sin leads to its destruction. 

If we deny an individual responsibility, we must also 
deny a responsibility in common; for what is denied of 
the individual cannot be affirmed of the species, and thus 
human responsibility is destroyed. What is denied of 
each one in particular, and of all in general, cannot be 
affirmed of any ; from which it follows, that if we once 
deny the responsibility of the individual and that of the 
species, we must also deny the responsibility of all asso- 
ciations. In other words, there no longer exists either 
a social, political, or a domestic responsibility. There- 
fore, as regards the question of responsibility, the nega- 
tion of sin leads to its destruction. 

From the denial of an individual, domestic, political, 
and human responsibility, proceeds the negation of soli- 
darity in the individual, the family, the state, and the 
species, since solidarity means a responsibility in com- 

24* 



274 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



moil. Therefore, as regards solidarity, the negation of 

sin leads to its destruction. 

If we deny the solidarity of man, of the family, of 
the state, and of the species, we must also deny the 
unity of man, of the family, of the state, and of the 
species; because the identity between solidarity and 
unity is so complete, that what is one cannot even be 
conceived of except as possessed of solidarity, nor that 
which has solidarity, except as possessing unity. There- 
fore, as regards the question of unity, the negation of 
sin leads to its destruction. 

The following negations proceed from the absolute 
negation of unity: that of humanity, society, the family, 
and man. In effect, nothing whatever exists, except 
under the condition of being one, and it is equivalent to 
the negation of the family, society, and humanity to 
deny the domestic, political, and human unity. From 
the negation of these three unities proceeds the nega- 
tion of these three things. To affirm their existence 
and to deny their unity is a contradiction of terms. 
Each one of these things must either be one or have no 
existence whatever. Therefore, if they are not one, 
they do not exist, and even their name is an absurdity, 
since it is a name which neither represents nor expresses 
anything. 

As regards the individual man, his negation as the 
result of the negation of unity, proceeds in a different 
manner. The individual man alone may, up to a certain 
point, exist without unity or solidarity. What is denied 
of him in denying his unity and solidarity is, that in the 
different moments of his life he remains the same per- 
son. If there is no link which unites the present 
with the past and future, it results from this, that man 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



275 



only exists in the present. But, according to this sup- 
position, his existence is rather phenomenal than real. 
If he does not exist in the past, because it is past, and 
there is no connection between the past and the present; 
if he does not live in the future because the future is 
not, and when the future shall exist, what now constitutes 
the present will have ceased to be : if man only lives 
in the present, and the present does not exist, because 
when we would affirm its existence it is already past, it 
results from this, that man's existence is rather theo- 
retical than real, because if he does not really exist 
throughout all time, he does not exist in any portion of 
time whatever. I can only conceive of time as united 
under its three forms, and I cannot conceive of it if 
they are separated. What is the past, except that 
which no longer exists? What is the future, except 
that which does not yet exist ? And who can arrest 
the present, the necessary time to affirm it, before it 
reaches the future and falls into the past ? Therefore, 
to affirm the existence of man and to deny the unity of 
time, is to give to man only the speculative existence of 
the mathematical point. Therefore, the negation of sin 
ends in nihilism, either as regards the existence of indi- 
vidual man, of humanity, of the family, or of society ; 
and it is proved that all the socialist doctrines, or to 
speak with more precision, all the rationalist doctrines, 
end in nothingness. There is nothing more natural or 
logical, if we carefully reflect upon it, than that those 
who separate themselves from God should end in nihil- 
ism, because out of God there is only nothingness. 

This established, I can with justice accuse the social- 
ism of the present day of timidity, and of being contra- 
dictory. It denies the triune and one God, and affirms 



276 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



other gods; it denies humanity under one aspect, and 
affirms it under another; it denies society under certain 
forms, and affirms it under different forms; it, on the 
one hand, denies the family, and on the other affirms it; 
it denies man in one way, and affirms him in a different 
or contrary way. Is not all this inconsistent and cow- 
ardly? The socialism of the present day still remains 
a demi-Catholicism, and nothing more. If the limits of 
this work would permit, I could readily demonstrate that 
the socialist doctors who have progressed the farthest, 
advance a greater proportion of Catholic affirmations 
than of socialist negations, which produces an absurd 
Catholicism and a contradictory socialism. Every af- 
firmation which supposes a God, is necessarily the affirm- 
ation of the God of the- Catholics; every affirmation 
which supposes humanity, inevitably leads to the Chris- 
tian dogma of the unity and solidarity of humanity; 
every affirmation which supposes the existence of society, 
ends sooner or later in the Catholic affirmation respect- 
ing the social institutions ; every affirmation which sup- 
poses the family, is only the acceptance of conditions 
which in one way or another result in affirming all that 
Catholicism affirms and socialism denies with regard to 
it; finally, every affirmation, of whatever nature, re- 
specting man, definitively resolves itself into the affirma- 
tion of Adam, the man of the Book of Genesis. Ca- 
tholicism resembles those enormous cylinders, under 
which if anything pass in part, it must pass entirely. 
If socialism does not alter its course it will inevitably 
pass under this formidable cylinder, dragging with it 
all its -pontiffs and doctors, and every vestige of its exist- 
ence will be obliterated. 

Mr. Prouclhon is not ordinarily ridiculous, yet he be- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



277 



conies so when, proclaiming the negation of government 
as the ultimate negation, he claims the first rank among ail 
the socialists on account of the extreme boldness of this 
proposition. When the socialists would vie with the Cath- 
olics, they are as the wise men of Greece compared with 
the priests of the East ; they are as children who are 
mistaken for men. The negation of government, so far 
from being the last of all possible negations, is only a 
preliminary negation, which future nihilists will place 
in their list of prolegomena. If Mr. Proudhon does not 
change his position, he will be dragged like the rest 
under the Catholic cylinder. All must meet this fate, 
even the least. He must then either affirm nothingness, 
or be forced body and soul under this cylinder, with 
all his negations and affirmations. So long as Mr. 
Proudhon does not take a bolder position, he entitles me 
to represent him to the future rationalists as suspected 
of latent Catholicism and disguised moderaniism. Those 
among the socialists who make no pretensions to an in- 
heritance of Catholic sentiments, say of themselves that 
they are its antithesis. But Catholicism is not a thesis, 
and therefore cannot be opposed by an antithesis. It is 
a synthesis which includes all, which contains and ex- 
plains all, which cannot be, I shall not say conquered, 
but even contested, except by a similar synthesis which, 
like it, includes, contains, and explains all things. Every 
human thesis and antithesis is comprised in the Catholic 
synthesis. It attracts and condenses everything to 
itself by the invincible force of an incommunicable vir- 
tue. Those who imagine that they are placed beyond 
Catholic limits, still remain within them, because within 
these limits is the atmosphere of intelligences. The 



278 ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 

socialists, like the rest, after the most strenuous efforts 
to separate themselves from Catholicism, have only suc- 
ceeded in becoming bad Catholics. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Dogmas correlative with the dogma of solidarity— Bloody sacri- 
fices — Theories of the rationalist schools respecting the death 
penalty. 

We have shown that socialism is an incoherent com- 
bination of thesis and antithesis, which contradict and 
destroy each other. Catholicism, on the contrary, forms 
a great synthesis which includes all things in its unity, 
and infuses into them its sovereign harmony. It may 
be affirmed of Catholic dogmas, that although they are 
diverse yet they are one. So perfect is the connection 
between them that no particular one can be designated 
as the first or the last in the great divine circle. The 
virtue which is inherent in them all to transfuse their 
most hidden essence into each other, renders it impossi- 
ble to accept or reject any one dogma when isolated 
from the others. All must be conjointly accepted or 
rejected; and as their dogmatical affirmations comprise 
all possible affirmations, it follows that no affirmation or 
negation, when restricted to a particular or relative 
sense, can be directed against Catholicism. Only an 
absolute negation can be opposed to this wonderful syn- 
thesis. Things have been so disposed by God, who 
manifests himself in the Catholic word, that this abso- 
lute negation, which is logically necessary in order to 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



279 



combat the divine word, is entirely impossible; because, 
in order to deny all things we must commence by deny- 
ing our own existence, and he who annihilates himself 
can go no farther, nor can he subsequently deny any 
other thing. The Catholic word is then invincible and 
eternal. From the first day of creation it has continued 
to increase throughout all space, and resound throughout 
all time, "with an infinite power of expansion and reso- 
nance. Nothing can diminish its sovereign virtue, and 
when time shall have run its course, and space shall lie 
folded in the hand of God, this word will perpetually 
reverberate throughout the profound depths of eternity. 
Everything passes away in this lower world — men and 
their sciences, which are but ignorance; empires and 
their, glories, which are but illusions ; all is silent, and 
this word alone resounds. All that exists bears witness 
that its affirmation is like itself, immutable and eternal. 

If we consider the dogma of solidarity in its connec- 
tion with the dogma of unity, we see that they are 
blended, and that under two different manifestations 
they are essentially one and the same dogma. If we 
afterward consider the dogma of solidarity in itself, we 
see it resolved into two dogmas which, like that of soli- 
darity and unity, are one in essence but two in their 
manifestations. The solidarity and unity of all men 
involves the idea of a responsibility of all in common, 
and this responsibility supposes, in its turn, that the 
merits of some can be imputed to others, and that 
shame and penalty, the result of crime, can reach those 
who are not guilty. When the evil effect of crime is 
what is thus communicated, the dogma preserves its 
generic name of solidarity, and when an advantage is 
thus imparted the name is changed to that of reversi- 



280 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



bility. Thus it is said that we have all sinned in Adam, 
because we are all in a common bond of solidarity with 
him, and that we have all been redeemed by Jesus Christ, 
because his merits are reversible to us. The difference 
here, as may be seen, is only in name, and in nowise 
alters the identity of the thing signified. It is the same 
with the dogmas of imputation and substitution, which 
are only the two dogmas of solidarity and of reversi- 
bility considered in their applications. In virtue of the 
dogma of imputation, we all suffer the punishment in- 
flicted upon Adam, and by that of substitution, our Sav- 
iour suffered for us all. But, as is here seen, we only 
consider a dogma as regards its substance. The prin- 
ciple in virtue of which we have all been saved in our 
Lord, is identical with that through which we have all 
been guilty and punished in Adam. This principle of 
solidarity which explains the two great mysteries of our 
redemption and of the transmission of sin, is in its turn 
explained by this very transmission, and by the redemp- 
tion of mankind. Without solidarity we cannot even 
conceive of a corrupted and redeemed humanity; and, 
on the other hand, it is evident that if humanity could 
neither be redeemed by Jesus Christ nor corrupted in 
Adam, neither could it be conceived as one and pos- 
sessing solidarity. 

This dogma, united to that of the Adamic prevarica- 
tion, reveals to us the true nature of man, and God has 
never permitted these dogmas to be entirely forgotten. 
This explains why all the nations of the world have con- 
fessed them, and why their testimony is engraved in 
luminous characters on the pages of history. The 
most civilized nations and the most savage tribes 
have alike believed these two things: that the sins of 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 281 

some may draw down the anger of God upon the head 
of all, and that a deliverance from transmitted sin and 
its penalty may be obtained for all, by a pure victim 
offered as a perfect holocaust. God condemned man- 
kind for the sin of Adam, and saved it through the 
merits of his well beloved son. Noah, inspired by God, 
condemned, in the person of Canaan, all his race; God 
blessed in Abraham, and then in Isaac, and afterward 
in Jacob, all the Hebrew race. Sometimes he saves 
offending sons on account of the merits of their ances- 
tors; then again he chastises them even to the last gen- 
eration on account of the sins of guilty ancestors. None 
of these things, which are viewed bv reason as incredi- 
ble, have caused either surprise or repugnance to man- 
kind, which has received them with the most pure and 
constant faith. The gods made Thebes the subject of 
divine wrath, on account of the guilt of (Edipus, and 
the merits of his expiation were likewise reversible to 
Thebes. On the greatest and most solemn day of crea- 
tion, when the Man-God was about to ratify by his death 
the truth of all these dogmas, he wished them to be first 
proclaimed and confessed by this deicidal people. Then 
arose a turbulent outcry, a supernatural clamor among 
this people, who pronounced these frightful words: 
"May his blood be upon us, and upon our children." 
Does it not seem as if God permitted, in these awful 
moments, a concentration of time and of dogmas? The 
very day that this very people put him to death, they 
impute to one alone, and punish in him, the sins of all, 
and demand the application of the same law to them- 
selves and their children, in declaring that their sons 
share a solidarity of sin in common with them. The 
same day that this dogma is thus unanimously proclaimed 

25 



282 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



by this people, God proclaims it himself in accepting a 
solidarity with man, and he also proclaims the dogma 
of reversibility in asking the Father to pardon his ene- 
mies as the price of his suffering, and he proclaims the 
dogma of substitution in dying for them, and finally, 
that of redemption as the consequence of all the others. 
For, if the sinner is redeemed, it is because the substi- 
tute who suffered death for him, in virtue of the dogma 
of solidarity, has been accepted, and applies to him His 
merits in virtue of the dogma of reversibility. 

All these dogmas, which were in the same day pro- 
claimed by a people and by a God, and afterward ac- 
complished in the person of this God, and in the successive 
generations of this people, these same dogmas have all 
been constantly proclaimed and accomplished, although 
imperfectly, since the beginning of the world. They 
were symbolized in an institution before they were ful- 
filled in a person. 

The institution which symbolized them is that of 
bloody sacrifices. The existence of this mysterious, and, 
humanly speaking, inconceivable institution is a fact so 
universal and constant that it has existed among all 
nations, and in every country; so that of all the social 
institutions, that which is most universal is the most in- 
conceivable, and apparently the most absurd; and it is 
worthy of remark that this universality is an attribute 
common to the institution which is the symbol of these 
dogmas, to the person in whom they were accomplished, 
and even to the dogmas thus symbolized and fulfilled. 
The imagination seeks in vain to find dogmas, a person, 
or an institution more universal. These dogmas contain 
all the laws which govern human affairs; in the unity of 
this person the Divinity and humanity are found united, 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



283 



and the institution is commemorative of the universality 
of the dogmas, and is symbolical of the only person in 
whom the perfection of universality exists; and, con- 
sidered in itself, it fills the earth and extends beyond 
the limits of history. 

Abel was the first man who, after the great tragedy 
of the terrestrial paradise, offered to God a bloody sacri- 
fice, and this sacrifice, in that it was bloody, was agree- 
able in the eyes of God, who angrily rejected the offer- 
ing of Cain, which consisted of the fruits of the earth. 
And what is here singular and mysterious is, that Abel, 
who offers blood as an expiatory sacrifice, holds its effu- 
sion in such horror that he prefers to die rather than 
shed the blood of him who would kill him; while Cain, 
who refuses to shed blood as a symbol of expiation, does 
not hesitate to take the life of his brother. Why is it 
that, according to the manner in which it is done, the 
effusion of blood is here regarded either as a means of 
purification or as a crime? Why do all shed blood in 
one manner or the other? 

Since the day of the first effusion of blood, it has 
never ceased to flow, and it has never been shed in 
vain, always preserving intact either its condemna- 
tory or its purifying virtue. All men who have lived 
since Abel the just, and Cain the fratricide, resemble, 
more or less, the one or the other. Abel and Cain 
are the types of those two kingdoms which are gov- 
erned by contrary laws, and by different masters, and 
which are called the kingdom of God and the kingdom 
of the world. These kingdoms are not distinguished 
from each other because blood is shed in one and not in 
the other, but because in the one life is offered through 
love, and in the other it is taken in revenge. In the 



284 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



one life is taken by man to assuage his passion, and in 
the other it is offered to God as an expiatory sacrifice. 

Mankind has never lost the reminiscence of biblical 
traditions, but has always believed these three things 
with an unconquerable faith: that the effusion of blood 
is necessary, that there is a manner of shedding blood 
which is purificatory, and another mode which is con- 
demnatory. History clearly attests these truths. It 
presents to us the narrative of cruel acts, of bloody 
conquests, of the overthrow and destruction of famous 
cities, of atrocious murders committed, of pure victims 
offered on blood-stained altars, of brothers warring 
against brothers, of the rich oppressing the poor, and 
of fathers tyrannizing over their children, until the 
earth appears to us like an immense sea of blood, which 
neither the piercing breath of the winds can dry up, nor 
the scorching rays of the sun can absorb. This general 
belief is no less clearly revealed by the bloody sacrifices 
offered to God upon every altar, and finally, by the 
legislation of all nations, whereby he who takes the life 
of another is always and everywhere condemned to lose 
his own life. In the tragedy of 0?*estes, Euripides makes 
Apollo utter these words: " Helen is not accountable 
for the Trojan war; her beauty was only the means 
which the gods made use of in order to enkindle a war 
between two nations, and by the shedding of blood to 
purify the earth, which was corrupted by a multitude of 
crimes." The poet, in this passage, is only the echo of 
the traditions of his own people, and of humanity, 
which proclaims that by the effect of a mysterious cause, 
there is a secret virtue of purification in the shedding of 
blood. 

As sacrifice supposes the existence of this cause, and 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



285 



of this virtue of purification, it is evident that blood 
acquired this virtue as a consequence of this cause, at 
an epoch anterior to that of bloody sacrifices ; and as 
these sacrifices were instituted from the time of Abel, 
it is certain that both the cause and the virtue of which 
we speak were anterior to Abel, and contemporaneous 
with a great event in paradise, from which this virtue 
and its cause must have necessarily originated. This 
great event was the Adamic prevarication. The flesh 
being guilty in Adam, and in the flesh of Adam that of 
all the species, in order that the punishment should be 
proportioned to the fault, it was necessary that the pen- 
alty should affect the flesh, even as the sin had done, 
from whence the necessity of the perpetual effusion of 
human blood. But the promise of a Redeemer had fol- 
lowed the sin of Adam, and this promise substituted the 
Redeemer for the guilty, and suspended the execution 
of the sentence until the coming of the Saviour. This 
is why Abel, who was the depositary through Adam, 
both of the condemnatory sentence and of the promise 
which suspended its execution until the coming of the 
substitute w 7 ho was to suffer for the guilty, instituted 
the only sacrifice which could then be acceptable to 
God, the commemorative and symbolical sacrifice. 

The sacrifice of Abel was so perfect that it comprised 
in an extraordinary manner all the Catholic dogmas. 
As a sacrifice in general, it was an act of thanksgiving 
and adoration toward the omnipotent and sovereign God. 
As a bloody sacrifice it proclaimed the dogma of the 
Adamic prevarication, and that of the free will of the 
prevaricator, who could not have been guilty if deprived 
of the exercise of free will. It likewise proclaimed the 

25* 



286 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



dogma of the transmission of sin and of penalty, with- 
out which Adam alone would have had to suffer punish- 
ment; and it also proclaimed the dogma of solidarity, 
without which Abel would not have inherited sin. This 
sacrifice was at the same time an acknowledgment of 
the justice of God, and of the care that Providence 
exercises over human affairs. If we consider it, as re- 
gards the victims offered to the Lord, it was a commem- 
oration both of the promise made to the true criminal 
at the time that the penalty was inflicted, and also of 
the reversibility in virtue of which those who were pun- 
ished for the fault of Adam were to be ransomed through 
the merits of the Saviour ; and of that substitution in 
virtue of which He who was to come was to offer him- 
self as a sacrifice for mankind; and finally, these victims 
being lambs without blemish, and the firstlings of the 
flock, the sacrifice of Abel typified the true sacrifice in 
which the most pure and meek Lamb, the only Son of 
the Father, offered himself as a holy and perfect sacri- 
fice for the sins of the world. In this manner Catholi- 
cism, in its entirety, which explains and includes all 
things, is, by a miracle of condensation, itself explained 
and contained in the first bloody sacrifice offered by man 
to God. What a surprising virtue does the Catholic 
religion possess, which gives it so infinite a power of 
expansion and condensation! How wonderful is the 
immense variety of those doctrines which we behold 
comprised in this one symbol ! And how perfect and 
comprehensive is this symbol which contains so many 
and so great things! Such sublime consonances and 
harmonies and perfections of so surpassing a beauty are 
beyond the comprehension of man, and they not only 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



287 



exceed all that we can understand, but likewise all that 
we could desire or imagine. 

In the course of successive generations, traditions 
gradually became changed and obscured in the mem- 
ory and understanding of men. God, in his infinite 
wisdom, did not permit that all remembrance of these 
great biblical traditions should be effaced; but in the 
midst of the ceaseless agitation in which the nations 
were plunged who were always at war with each other, 
and who all lay prostrate at the feet of their idols, these 
reminiscences became more and more indistinct, until 
they were nothing more than uncertain and confused 
impressions. It was then that, from the vague idea of 
a primitive fault transmitted through the blood, men de- 
duced the consequence that it was necessary to offer 
the blood of man as a sacrifice to God. Then sacrifice 
ceased to be symbolical and became real; but as in the 
divine design, the sacrifice of the Redeemer was alone 
efficacious, so these human sacrifices were of no avail. 
These sacrifices, however, imperfect and inefficacious as 
they were, virtually comprised, on the one hand, the 
dogmas of original sin and of its transmission, with the 
dogma of solidarity, and on the other hand, the dogma 
of reversibility and that of substitution — although their 
unworthiness prevented them from symbolizing either 
the true substitution or the true substitute. 

When the ancients sought an innocent and spotless 
victim, and conducted it to the altar crowned with 
flowers, in order that by its death it might appease the 
divine wrath, and thus be offered in satisfaction for the 
sins of the people; when they did this, they expressed 
by such an act much more of truth than error. They 
confessed by these sacrifices that the divine justice re- 



288 



ESSAY OS CATHOLICISM. 



quired to be appeased, that ii could not be so without 
the shedding of blood, that one victim could atone for 
the sins of all. and that the victim who was to effect the 
work of redemption must be innocent. They were right 
in all these points, for they simply implicitly affirmed 
the great Catholic dogmas. Their onlv mistake was 
that of supposing that there could exist a man so inno- 
cent and just, as to be an efficacious offering of expia- 
tion for the sins of the people as a Redeemer. This 
one error, this one act of forgetfulness of a Cath- 
olic dogma, converted the world into a sea of blood, 
and would of itself have been sufficient to prevent the 
advent of all true civilization. A ferocious and cruel 
barbarism is the legitimate and inevitable consequence 
of the forgetfulness of any Christian dogma, whatever 
it may be. 

The error we have iust indicated onlv consisted in 
one thing, and as regarded under a certain point of view. 
The blood of man cannot expiate original sin, which is 
the sin of the species, the supreme human sin: but it 
nevertheless may. and does, expiate certain individual 
crimes, from which follows not only the legitimacy, but 
also the necessity and propriety of the penalty of death. 

The universality of this institution testifies to the uni- 
versality of the belief of mankind in the purifying effi- 
cacy of blood, when shed under certain circumstances, 
and in its expiatory virtue when it is thus shed. Sine 
sanguine non fit remissio.* Mankind could never have 
extinguished the common debt which it contracted in 
Adam without the blood shed by the Redeemer. When- 
ever a people have attempted to abolish the death pen- 



* Heb. ix. 22. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



289 



alty, society lias distilled blood through every pore. 
The suppression of the penalty of blood in Saxe-Royal 
was followed by the great and bloody battle of May, 
which endangered the life of the state to such a degree 
that it could only be saved by foreign intervention. 
Merely its proclamation in Frankfort, in the name of 
the common country, placed the affairs of Germany in 
worse confusion and disorder than had existed during 
any other period of its turbulent history. The suppres- 
sion of this penalty which was decreed by the provisional 
government of France, was succeeded by those frightful 
days of June which, with all their horrors, will live for- 
ever in the memories of men; and added to these, others 
would have followed in rapid succession if a pure victim, 
and one acceptable to God, had not offered itself in 
atonement for the sins of that guilty government and 
sinful country. How far the virtue of that innocent and 
august blood may extend no one knows, or can know: 
but, humanly speaking, it may be asserted without fear 
of being contradicted by facts, that blood will again flow 
abundantly if France does not again submit to the juris- 
diction of that providential law which no people may 
safely neglect. 

I shall not close this chapter without making a reflec- 
tion which I consider as of the highest importance. If 
the abolition of the penalty of death for political crimes 
has been productive of such disastrous consequences, 
how terrible would be the effect if this suppression ex- 
tended to crimes of the common order! For it is evi- 
dent to me that the suppression of the first brings with 
it, in a given time, the suppression of the second; and 
it is capable of being demonstrated that from this double 
suppression proceeds the abolition of all human penalties. 



290 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



To suppress the extreme penalty for crimes which en- 
danger the security of the state, that is to say, the 
security of all. and to enforce it for crimes committed 
against simple individuals, appears to me to be a mon- 
strous inconsistency, which must sooner or later produce 
the logical and inevitable consequences which always 
attend human events. On the other hand, to abolish in 
either case, as excessive, the death penalty for capital 
crimes, would be equivalent in its results to the abolition 
of every kind of penalty for lesser offenses : for if you 
once admit any other than the death penalty for capital 
crimes, you would violate the laws of a just proportion, 
and then whatever punishment may be applied to the 
lesser class of offenses must in equity be considered as 
oppressive and unjust. 

If the abolition of the death penalty for political 
offenses is founded on the negation of political crimes, 
and if this negation is justified by the fallibility of the 
state in these matters, it is clear that every system of 
penalty should be suppressed; because fallibility in 
the political order supposes fallibility in the moral 
order, and this double fallibility supposes the radical 
incompetency of the state to designate any human 
action as a crime. Xow. if this fallibility is a fact, all 
governments are incompetent to punish, because they 
are all fallible. 

He alone can find another guilty of crime who may 
accuse him of sin ; and he alone can inflict punishment 
for the oue who may impose it for the other. Govern- 
ments have only power to impose a penalty upon man 
in their quality of being so delegated by God, and the 
human law is only competent when it is the application 
of the divine law. When governments reject God and 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



291 



his law, they deny their own existence. To deny the 
divine law and to affirm the human law, to affirm crime 
and to deny sin, to deny God and affirm any government 
whatever, is to deny what one affirms, and to affirm what 
one denies — it is to commit the most palpable contradic- 
tions. Then society is exposed to the storms of revolu- 
tion, which soon restore the logical empire that governs 
human affairs, by suppressing human contradictions 
either with an absolute and inexorable affirmation or 
with an absolute and peremptory negation. 

The atheism of the law and of the state, or, what 
amounts to the same thing expressed in a different man- 
ner, the complete secularization of the law of the state, 
is a theory which can never coincide with the theory of 
penalty. The first comes from man in his condition of 
voluntary separation from God, and the other comes 
from God when in a state of union with man. 

Governments seem to be endowed with an unerring 
instinct which teaches them that they can only be just 
or strong in the name of God. Thus it happens that 
whenever they commence to secularize, that is to say, 
to separate themselves from God, they always begin to 
relax the severity of penalties, as if they were conscious 
that their right was weakened. The loose modern theo- 
ries respecting criminal law are contemporaneous with the 
decadence of religion, and they have prevailed in the 
codes whenever the complete secularization of political 
power was established. When this takes place, the 
criminal becomes gradually transformed in the eyes of 
men, until finally what was regarded with horror by our 
ancestors only excites the commiseration of their chil- 
dren. He who was formerly called criminal, even loses 
this name, and is spoken of as eccentric or insane. The 



292 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



modern rationalists designate crime as a misfortune. 
But the day will come when these objects of misfortune 
will gain the ascendency, and will administer the gov- 
ernment, and then innocence will alone be considered as 
a crime. The penal theories of absolute monarchies, in 
the days of their decadence, have given rise to the theo- 
ries of the liberal schools, and these theories have re- 
duced affairs to the extreme peril in which we now find 
them. After these schools come the socialists with their 
theories of holy insurrections and heroic crimes: nor 
will this be the last, for there dawns in the distant hori- 
zon a still more bloody future. The new gospel of the 
world is perhaps writing in a prison; nor will the world 
suffer more than it deserves when it is evangelized by 
these new apostles. 

Those who have made the world believe that this earth 
may be converted into a paradise, have yet more readily 
made it believe that it ought to be a paradise where 
blood will never be shed. The evil is not in the illusion, 
but in the very day and hour that this fallacy is every- 
where accepted; blood will then gush forth from the 
rocks, and the earth will become a hell. Man cannot 
aspire to an impossible felicity in this obscure valley 
of our dark pilgrimage, without losing the little hap- 
piness he already possesses. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



293 



CHAPTER TIL 

Recapitulation— Inefficacy of all the solutions proposed— Necessity 
of a higher solution. 

We have now seen how the liberty granted to men 
and angels, with the faculty of choosing between good 
and evil which accompanies it, and constitutes its imper- 
fection and its danger, is not only in accordance with 
the justice of Grod, but is likewise expedient. We have 
also seen how the exercise of this liberty, thus consti- 
tuted, produced evil and sin, and how sin profoundly 
altered the order which God established in creation, 
and changed the perfect manner of being which all 
creatures received from God. Going still farther, after 
having given an account of the disorder into which the 
divine work was thus thrown, we proposed to demon- 
strate, and we believe that we have succeeded in so 
doing, that if angels and men were endowed with free 
will, and permitted to make use of this formidable 
faculty in order to draw evil out of good, and corrupt 
all things, the ones by their revolt and the others by 
their disobedience, and both by sin; that if God per- 
mitted them this disturbing faculty of liberty, he did 
so because he had reserved for himself the power to 
neutralize this disturbing influence, and to draw good 
out of evil, and order out of disorder. By this means, 
God fully restored things to a more perfect state of 
harmony and agreement than that destroyed by the 
revolted angels and the sins of men. In order to render 
the existence of evil impossible, it would have been 
necessary to suppress angelical and human liberty, which 

26 



294 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



are a great good. Therefore God, in his infinite wis- 
dom, so ordered things that, without suppressing the cause 
which might lead to the existence of evil, he made this 
very evil the means of producing a still greater harmony 
and higher perfection. 

The course of this argument has enabled me to prove 
that the ultimate end of things is to manifest, each in 
its own manner, the sublime perfections of God, so as 
to become as it were the effulgent rays of his beauty, 
and the magnificent reflection of his glory. Under this 
point of view, and as regards this universal finality, it 
has been easy to demonstrate that the disobedience of 
man and the angelical rebellion have produced the most 
excellent results. As a consequence of this double 
revolt, those creatures who had before only served as 
manifestations of the divine goodness and magnificence, 
from that time also reflected all the sublimity of his 
mercy and all the grandeur of his justice. Order only 
became universal and absolute when creation reflected 
all the divine splendors. 

We have passed from the discussion of the problems 
respecting universal order, to the contemplation of those 
which relate to the general order of human events. In 
taking this extended view, we have beheld the spread of 
evil in humanity to be commensurate with that of sin; 
we have seen in what manner humanity existed in Adam, 
and how the species sinned in him, the individual. Thus, 
as sin had of itself the power to disturb the order of the 
universe, so it likewise possessed that power, and with 
greater reason, as regards man. In order that what we 
have already said, and what we have still to say on this 
subject may be entirely comprehended, it is best here to 
remark, that if the universal end of things is to mani- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



295 



fest the perfections of God. the particular end of man 
is to preserve his union with God. who is the object of 
his final felicity and repose. Sin destroyed the order of 
human things by severing this bond of union which con- 
stitutes our special end. and from that moment the prob- 
lem, as regards humanity, consists in discovering the 
means through which evil can be overcome in its effects 
and in its cause : in its effects, that is to say, in the 
corruption of the individual and of the species, and in 
all the consequences of this corruption, and also in its 
cause, that is to say, in sin. 

God, who is most simple in his works, because he is 
perfect in his essence, conquers evil in its cause and in 
its effects by the secret virtue of one single transforma- 
tion. But this is so radical and wonderful in its nature, 
that through it all that was evil becomes good, and 
all imperfection is changed into sovereign perfection. 
So far we have attempted to prove, how God trans- 
forms the very effects of evil and sin into instruments 
of good. All these effects proceed from a primitive cor- 
ruption of the individual and of the species; considered 
in themselves, they are. therefore, only a lamentable 
misfortune in the individual and in the species. Who- 
ever speaks of misfortune, speaks of an evil produced 
by a cause independent of our will; and if this cause is 
among the number of those whose action is constant, 
then it is plain that this misfortune is in its nature in- 
evitable. In imposing misfortune as a penalty, God 
has rendered its transformation possible by means of its 
voluntary acceptance by man. When man, aided by God, 
heroically accepts misfortune as a just penalty, this ac- 
ceptance does not change the nature of the penalty, con- 
sidered in itself — for this transformation would be in all 



296 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



respects impossible — but it thereby acquires a new and 
extraordinary power, an expiatory and purifying virtue. 
This virtue always preserves its indestructible identity, 
and when it combines in a supernatural manner with a 
voluntary acceptance, it produces effects which naturally 
it is incapable of producing. This sublime and consol- 
ing doctrine is alike taught us by God, history, and rea- 
son, and it constitutes a dogmatical, historical, and ra- 
tional truth. 

The dogma of the transmission of sin and of penalty, 
and that of the purifying action of the latter when freely 
accepted, led us naturally to the examination of the or- 
ganic laws of humanity, which completely explain all 
the revolutions and events of history. The assemblage 
of these laws constitutes human order, and constitutes it 
in such a way that it cannot even be otherwise imagined. 

After having given the Catholic solutions respecting 
these profound and fearful problems, among which some 
relate to the universal order, and others to the human 
order, we have also presented the solutions invented by 
the liberal school, and by the socialists of modern times, 
showing on the one hand the sublime harmonies and 
consonances of the Catholic dogmas, and on the other 
the extravagant contradictions of the rationalist schools. 
The radical impotency of reason to find the true solu- 
tion of these fundamental problems explains the inco- 
herence and contradictions which are observable in 
the human solutions; and these incoherent contra- 
dictions demonstrate in their turn how absolutely 
impossible it is for man, when left to himself, to at- 
tain those serene and heavenly heights where God has 
established the secret laws of all things. The result 
of this investigation, which, as regards the restricted 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



297 



limits of this book, has been somewhat prolix, has clearly 
proved the following truths: First, that the negation of 
any Catholic dogma brings with it the negation of all 
other Catholic dogmas, and that the affirmation of a 
single Catholic dogma involves the affirmation of all. 
This is an invincible demonstration that Catholicism is 
an immense synthesis placed beyond the laws of space 
and time; and, secondly, that no rationalist school de- 
nies all Catholic dogmas at once, for which reason all those 
schools are condemned to -inconsistency and absurdity; 
and, thirdly, that it is impossible to escape this inconsist- 
ency and absurdity, without the absolute acceptance of 
every Catholic dogma, or without denying them all with 
so radical a negation as would result in nihilism. 

Finally, after having separately examined each of 
those dogmas which refer to the universal order and 
the human order, we have considered their harmo- 
nious and magnificent combination in the institution 
of bloody sacrifices, whose origin is traced to that 
first era immediately succeeding the paradisiacal ca- 
tastrophe. This mysterious institution w^as not only 
the commemoration of that great tragedy, and of the 
promise of a Redeemer made by God to our first pa- 
rents, but it was also the incarnation of the dogmas of 
solidarity, of reversibility, of imputation, and of substi- 
tution. Finally, it was the perfect symbol of the future 
sacrifice, which was afterward realized in the fullness of 
time. When the nations forgot the biblical traditions, 
they lost the proper signification of the institution of 
bloody sacrifices. By the corruption of this dogma is 
explained the universal institution of human sacrifices, 
which universality attests both the truth of tradition 
and the fatal mistakes which men commit when they for- 

26* 



298 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



get any portion of the teachings of a religious dogma. 
With this view we exposed the great error and the 
great truth which were combined in the institution of 
human sacrifices, which at first sight appears to be a 
profound mystery incapable of explanation. Its great 
error was to attribute to man the expiatory virtue which 
alone existed in Him who, according to the voice of 
ancient prophecies and traditions, was to come in the 
plenitude of time. Its great truth consisted in attribu- 
ting to the shedding of blood, under certain conditions, 
the power of appeasing the divine wrath to a certain 
degree and up to a certain point. The concatenation 
and connection of these deductions led us to examine 
the question of the penalty of death. We have seen, 
in the universal institution of this penalty, a confession 
of the faith of mankind in all ages and in all countries 
in the expiatory virtue attributed to the effusion of blood. 
We have interrogated the rationalist schools upon this 
vexed question, and their responses and solutions have 
appeared to us contradictory and absurd. Forcing them 
from contradiction to contradiction, we finally compelled 
them to choose between the acceptance of the penalty 
of death for political crimes as well as for those of the 
common order, or that of the radical and absolute nega- 
tion of crime and of all penalty. 

It only remains for us, at this point of our discussion, 
in order to bring it to a successful termination, to recall, 
with that sentiment of veneration which holy fear and 
love inspire, the mystery of mysteries, the sacrifice of 
sacrifices, the dogma of dogmas. We have contem- 
plated the marvels of the divine order, and the harmony 
of the universal order, and finally, the sublime adapta- 
tions of the human order. We must now rise still higher 



LIBERALISM, AXD SOCIALISM. 



299 



and draw near to that majestic height which governs and 
commands all the elevated mysteries of Catholicism. 
There, we behold in all his grandeur, merciful and at the 
same time terrible, formidable and most gentle, Him who 
was to come, and who came, and who by his coming drew 
all things unto him, and united all things with him in 
strongest and most loving bonds. He is the solution of 
all problems, the object of all prophecies, the reality of 
all types, the end of all dogmas, the confluence of the 
divine, universal, and human orders, the key of all mys- 
teries, the explanation of all enigmas, the promised one 
of God, the desired of the patriarchs, the expected of 
nations, the father of the afflicted, he whom the choirs 
of nations and of angels reverence, the alpha and omega 
of all things. 

Universal order consists in all things being harmoni- 
ously ordained with regard to that supreme end which 
God assigns to the universality of things; and this 
supreme end consists in the exterior manifestation of 
the divine perfections. All creatures proclaim the good- 
ness, and magnificence, and omnipotence of God. The 
saints magnify his mercy, and the reprobate his justice. 
What creature among all the created celebrates his love 
in so exalted a manner as the lost do His justice, and 
the saved His mercy. Such being the case, is it not 
clearly manifest that there should arise from this uni- 
verse, formed to proclaim the divine perfections, a com- 
mon voice forever testifying to this crowning proof of 
the divine love and the divine perfections ? 

Human order consists in the union of man with God, 
and this union cannot take place in our actual condition 
and in our actual state of separation, without a gigantic 
effort to raise ourselves to God. But who can exact 



300 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



this effort of one who is deprived of strength? "Who 
will command man to raise himself from the depths into 
which he has fallen, and the weight of sin under which 
he groans, to the heights of the heavenly mountain? I 
know that the voluntary and heroic acceptance of afflic- 
tion, of my cross, will elevate me beyond myself; but 
how am I to love that which by nature I abhor, and 
how hate what I naturally love? how am I to do this 
by an act of my own free will? I am commanded to 
love God, and I feel through all my veins the corrosive 
love of myself. I am ordered to walk, and I am bound 
in chains. I cannot acquire any merits on account of 
my sins, and I cannot get rid of the sins which oppress 
me unless some one delivers me. But no one can re- 
deem me unless he have for me an infinite love anterior 
to any merit of my own; and where can I find such a 
love? I am scorned of God, and the derision of the 
universe. In vain shall I drag myself throughout the 
earth; my disgrace everywhere follows me; and in vain 
shall I lift my eyes toward heaven, from whence no 
cheering ray of hope descends to console me. 

If this were so, the Catholic edifice, which has been 
so carefully established, must fall, deprived of its crown- 
ing glory, and of that foundation stone upon which it 
rests. Like a new tower of Babel, raised through 
pride and founded upon the unstable sand, it would be 
utterly demolished by the fury of the tempest. Then 
human order and universal order are only sonorous 
words, and all those profound problems which perplex 
and sadden humanity remain involved in an invincible 
obscurity, in spite of the vain assemblage of Catholic 
solutions. Although they are more consistent than the 
solutions of the rationalist schools, yet their connection 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



301 



is not so perfect as to be capable of resisting the efforts 
of human reason. If Catholicism neither says, teaches, 
nor contains anything more than has been declared, 
taught, and comprised by these solutions, then it is 
merely a philosophical system which is less imperfect 
than any that have preceded it, and, according to all 
probability, less perfect than others which are yet to 
come. In this case, it may be charged with a noto- 
rious incompetency to solve the great problems respect- 
ing God, the universe, and man. God is not perfect, 
if he does not love with an infinite love; order does 
not exist in the universe, if there is nothing in it which 
displays the love of God; and as to man, the disorder 
into which he has fallen through sin is so great that only 
infinite love can save him. 

Nor let it be said that God being infinitely good and 
merciful, love is supposed, and as it were hidden in his 
infinite goodness and mercy ; because love is in its na- 
ture so engrossing, that where it exists it necessarily 
governs and predominates over all other things. Love 
is not contained, but containing ; it is not hidden, but it 
makes itself known ; such is its nature, that wherever it 
is it subjects all things, and seems alone to exist. It is 
the great finality which subdues all things and arranges 
them with reference to itself. He who loves, if he love 
truly, would seem to be as one mad, so that when his 
love is infinite his folly appears to be infinite. 

I hear a voice which cries aloud in my heart, and 
which is my heart itself — a voice that speaks within 
me, and which is even myself — and this voice says to 
me: If thou wishest to know the true God, consider 
who it is that loves thee so as to become as a fool 
for thee, and who it is that aids thee to love Him, even 



S02 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



so as to become as a fool for Him, and this one is 
the true God, because in God is happiness, and to be 
happy is to love ; it is to be enraptured and transported 
with love, and forever to remain in this ecstasy of bliss. 
Unless love call me, I cannot answer; but if the voice I 
hear is that of love, I at once reply, " Behold me;" and 
I will follow my beloved whithersoever he goeth, without 
asking him to what place he goeth, or whither he leadeth 
me. For wherever he goeth or taketh me, there we 
shall still be with our love, and our love and ourselves is 
our heaven. 

It is thus that I would love, but I know that I cannot 
thus love, and that I can find no object to love me in 
this manner, and this is why in anguish and torment I 
forever move in a circle without end. Who shall break 
this circle wherein I perish? and who shall give me the 
wings of a dove, that I may fly away to beatific heights 
where I shall be at rest ? 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Of the incarnation of the Son of God and the redemption of 
mankind. 

In order to fully comprehend how universal order and 
human order are constituted, we have two problems to 
solve. God brought good out of the primitive prevari- 
cation, and in this way manifested two of his greatest 
perfections — his infinite justice and his infinite mercy. 
This however was not enough. That the order and har- 
mony, which attest the presence of God in all his works, 
should reign in the works of creation, and especially in 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



303 



human affairs, it was also necessary that the sin of pre- 
varication should be entirely effaced; for whatever might 
be the good which God would draw from it, yet, if this 
sin had not been effaced, the supreme evil would have 
seemingly remained unvanquished, and existed as it 
were in defiance of the divine power. On the other 
hand, nothing was more worthy the infinite goodness 
of God than to extend a strong and merciful hand to 
support the invincible weakness of man, that he might 
raise himself above his miserable condition, and trans- 
form the consequences of his sin into the means of his 
own salvation. To efface sin, and so to strengthen the 
sinner that he can freely and meritoriously raise him- 
self from the fallen state to which sin has reduced him — 
such is the great problem which Catholicism must solve, 
after the solution of all other problems, if it aspire to be 
anything more than one of those numberless systems, 
whose labored imperfections attest the profound and 
radical impotence of human reason. 

Catholicism solves these two problems by the highest, 
the most ineffable, most incomprehensible, and most glo- 
rious of all its mysteries ; and in this profound mystery all 
the divine perfections are united. In it is God, with his 
formidable omnipotence, his perfect wisdom, his mar- 
velous goodness, his terrible justice, his immense mercy, 
and, above all, with that unutterable love which governs 
and predominates over all his other perfections. This 
love imperiously demands of his mercy to be merciful, 
of his justice to be just, of his goodness to be good, of 
his wisdom to be wise, and of his omnipotence to be 
omnipotent ; because God is neither omnipotence, wis- 
dom, goodness, justice, nor mercy — God is love, and 



304 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



only love. But this love is in itself all-powerful, most 
wise, good, just, and merciful. 

It was love which supplicated the mercy of God to 
give hope to corrupt and fallen man, through that divine 
promise of a future Redeemer, who should come into the 
world to take upon himself and conquer sin. It was 
love that promised this Redeemer in paradise, and which 
sent him upon earth; it was love that came. It was 
love that assumed human flesh, and lived the life of 
mortal man, and died the death of the cross, and rose 
again in his body and in his glory. It is in love and 
through love that we sinners are all saved. 

The most glorious mystery of the incarnation of the 
Son of God is the only title of nobility which mankind 
can claim. I am not surprised at the contempt which 
modern rationalists show for man; on the contrary, 
if there is anything which I cannot understand or con- 
ceive, it is the circumspect prudence and timid reserve 
which they exhibit in this matter. When I consider 
man, despoiled by his own fault of that primal state of 
original justice and sanctifying grace in which God 
placed him ; and when I reflect upon his very imperfect 
and contradictory organization ; and when I consider 
the blindness of his understanding, the weakness of his 
will, the shameful desires of his flesh, the ardor of his 
concupiscence, and the perversity of his inclinations, I 
cannot imagine or comprehend the moderation of their 
expressions of disdain. If God had not assumed human 
nature, and in assuming it elevated it to himself, and 
imparted to it a luminous trace of the divine nobleness, 
it must be confessed that words could not express the 
extreme degradation of man. As to myself, I can say 
that if my God had not embraced human nature in the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 305 

womb of a woman, and if he had not died upon a cross 
for all mankind, the meanest reptile which I trample 
under my feet w T ould seem less despicable to me than 
man. The point of faith which most oppresses and 
weighs upon my reason is that of the nobility and dig- 
nity of the human species; a dignity and nobility which 
I wish to grasp and understand, and cannot. It is in 
vain that I turn from the frightful contemplation of the 
annals of crime, and reflect upon the more elevated and 
serene aspects of human life ; it is in vain that I recall 
the remembrance of the vaunted virtues of those whom 
the world calls heroic, and of whose actions history is 
full, because my conscience tells me that all these heroic 
virtues resolve themselves into heroic vices, which in 
their turn are but a blind pride and an insensate ambi- 
tion. Mankind appears to me like an immense multi- 
tude, prostrated at the feet of its heroes, who are its 
idols ; while these heroes, like idols, are adoring them- 
selves. Before I can believe in the nobleness of this 
stupid multitude I must receive the fact as a revelation 
from God. He who denies such a revelation cannot 
affirm his own greatness, for how can man know that he 
is noble unless God has revealed it to him ? What sur- 
passes my comprehension and astonishes me is, that any 
one should suppose that it requires a weaker faith to 
believe in the incomprehensible mystery of the dignity 
of human nature, than to believe in the adorable mys- 
tery of God made man in the womb of a virgin, by the 
power of the Holy Ghost. It only proves that man 
always remains subject to faith, and that when he seems 
to reject its teachings in order to follow his own reason, 
he only abandons that faith which is divinely mysterious 
in order to embrace what is mysteriously absurd. 

27 



306 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



The incarnation of the Son of God was not only a 
most exalted manifestation of infinite love, a love which 
is the perfection, if I may so express it, of the divine 
perfections, but was also most excellent in virtue of 
other profound and sublime consequences. The supreme 
order of things cannot be conceived, if all things do 
not resolve themselves into absolute unity; now, with- 
out this prodigious mystery, creation would be twofold, 
and there would exist a dualism in the universe which 
would be the symbol of a perpetual antagonism de- 
structive of order. On the one side was God, the 
universal thesis, and on the other his creatures, form- 
ing a universal antithesis. The supreme order re- 
quired a synthesis, sufficiently vast and powerful to 
reconcile, by union, the thesis and the antithesis, 
the Creator and the creature. That this union of the 
thesis and antithesis in the synthesis is one of the fun- 
damental laws of the universal order, is clearly seen 
when we consider that this same mystery is visible in 
man without exciting our surprise, which in God causes 
us so much astonishment. Man, considered under this 
point of view, is only a synthesis, composed of an incor- 
poreal essence, which is the thesis, and of a corporeal 
substance, which is the antithesis. When we consider 
man as composed of matter and spirit, he is a synthesis, 
but when we regard him as a creature, he is only an 
antithesis, which must, by means of a superior synthesis, 
be reduced to unity conjointly with the thesis, which 
contradicts it. The law of the reduction of diversity 
into unity, or, what is the same, of every thesis with its 
antithesis into a supreme synthesis, is a visible and im- 
mutable law. The only difficulty in the present case is 
in finding this supreme synthesis. God being on one 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



307 



side, and all created objects on the other, it is evident 
that here the adjusting synthesis cannot be found out- 
side of these limits, beyond which we cannot conceive of 
anything as existing, since these limits, being universal 
and absolute, comprise all things. The synthesis, then, 
must either be found in the creature or in God, in the 
antithesis or in the thesis, or in both simultaneously or 
successively. 

If man had remained in that excellent state and noble 
condition in which he was first placed by God, diversity 
would have been merged into unity, and the created 
antithesis would have united with the creating thesis in 
a supreme synthesis, by the deification of man. God 
had prepared man for this future deification when he 
adorned him with original justice and sanctifying grace. 
But man was created free, and be made use of his sover- 
eign liberty to deprive himself of that grace and renounce 
that justice, and by these means he interposed an obstacle 
to the divine will, and voluntarily rejected his own deifi- 
cation. But while human liberty has sufficient power to 
impede the accomplishment of the divine will in so far 
as it is relative, yet it cannot prevent its realization, 
wherein this will is absolute. The reduction of diversity 
into unity is what is absolute in the divine will ; but this 
reduction, by means of the deification of man, is only 
relative and contingent, or, in other words, God wished 
to establish this end with an absolute will, but the 
means by which to attain it he wished with a relative 
will ; and in this, as in all things, the ineffable wisdom 
of God is conspicuous. In effect, if the divine will had 
been in nothing absolute, God would not have been sov- 
ereign; and if this will bad been in nothing relative, 
human liberty would have been impossible. But on 



308 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



account of this will being at the same time relative and 
absolute, contingent and necessary, the coexistence of 
the sovereign will of God and the liberty of man were 
rendered possible, and were realized. As a sovereign, 
God decreed what was to be, and man, as a free creature, 
determined that the particular manner of being should 
differ from what it would have been in virtue of the 
divine decree. The result was that the universal order, 
decreed by God with an absolute will, was realized by 
the immediate incarnation of God, since it could not be 
realized by the immediate deification of man; this deifi- 
cation being altogether impossible, first, with a relative 
impossibility on account of his free will, and then with 
an absolute impossibility on account of sin. 

I have already fully demonstrated how great is the 
scope and the universality of the divine solutions, which 
do not, like the human solutions, overcome one obstacle 
and leave others of more importance unexplained; nor 
do they, after solving a difficulty, fall into some other 
and still greater perplexity; nor do they clear a prob- 
lem in one point of view, and leave it more embarrassed 
under other aspects than it had previously been; but 
the divine solutions at once suppress all obstacles, solve 
all difficulties, and clear all problems, shedding upon 
their darkness a full light which dissipates all obscurity. 
This characteristic of the divine solutions is especially 
observable in the adorable mystery of the incarnation 
of the Son of God, because this was at the same time 
the sovereign means of reducing all to unity, the divine 
condition of order in the universe; and it was likewise 
a supernatural means of restoring order to a fallen hu- 
manity. The radical impossibility of man to regain, 
unaided, the friendship and grace of God, after having 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



309 



sinned, is confessed even by those who deny the greater 
number of Catholic dogmas. Mr. Proudhon, the most 
learned man of the socialist schools, does not hesitate 
to affirm that sin supposed, the redemption of mankind 
through the merits and sufferings of God was rendered 
absolutely necessary; because in no other way could 
sinful man be redeemed. The Catholics do not go so 
far as this, as they affirm that this mode of redemption, 
without being necessary or the only one possible, was 
nevertheless the most excellent and adorable. 

By this it is seen that God wished by the same means 
to vanquish both the obstacle which opposed the accom- 
plishment of universal order, and that which prevented 
human order. In becoming man without ceasing to be 
God, He united man synthetically with God; and as the 
spiritual essence and the corporeal substance were al- 
ready united in man, God made man united in Himself 
in a sublime manner, on the one 'hand the corporeal 
substance and the spiritual essence, and on the other 
the Creator of all things with all his creatures. In 
the fullness of time, he voluntarily suffered and died for 
man, and thus took upon himself that primitive sin in 
consequence of which Adam and all his race had become 
corrupted, and were condemned to death. 

In whatever light we consider this great mystery, 
it offers to the reflecting mind the same wonderful fit- 
ness. If all mankind were condemned in Adam, there 
is nothing more just or reasonable than that all should 
be saved through another and more perfect Adam. If 
we have been condemned in virtue of the law of solida- 
rity, the law of justice, there could be nothing more just 
or reasonable than that we should be saved by the law 

27* 



310 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



of reversibility, the law of mercy. It would ^not have 
been proper or equitable that we should suffer for the 
sins of one who was our representative, if it were not 
also permitted us to acquire merit through the merits of 
one who became our substitute. If the sins of the first 
are imputable to us, it is entirely conformable with the 
law of reason that the merits of the second should be 
reversible to us. This is a sufficient response to those 
who insolently reproach God for our common condemna- 
tion in the persons of our first parents; for, even if we 
take it for granted, for the sake of argument, that we 
have not all sinned in Adam, by what right can we com- 
plain of being condemned in the person of our repre- 
sentative, when we are saved by the merits of a substi- 
tute ? To rebel against God on account of the law of 
imputable sins, without having regard to that other law 
which is its complement and explication, and by which 
the merits of others are reversible to us, is indeed ex- 
treme boldness, and supposes either bad faith or shame- 
ful ignorance. It is, under any hypothesis, a real 
folly. 

Order being restored in the universe by the union of 
all things in God, and order in humanity, in so far as 
it was disturbed by sin, it only remained, in order fully 
to restore it in the latter, on the one hand to put 
man in a condition to rise above himself so as to ac- 
cept tribulation freely, and on the other hand to 
give to this acceptance a meritorious virtue. God 
provided for both necessities by the divine mystery 
of the incarnation, so rich in its consequences, and so 
admirable in itself. The most precious blood shed upon 
Calvary not only effaced our fault and satisfied our debt, 
but by its inestimable value being applied to us enabled 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



311 



us to gain merits. Through it we received two graces, 
that of accepting tribulation, and that other, which ren- 
ders tribulation meritorious, when freely accepted in our 
Lord and through our Lord. In this consists the sub- 
stance of the Catholic religion, to believe with a firm 
faith that we have no strength in ourselves, but that we 
can do all things in Him and through Him who fortifies 
us. If this is rejected, all other dogmas are pure ab- 
stractions divested of all virtue and efficacy. The Cath- 
olic God is not an abstract nor a lifeless God, but he is 
a personal and living God, who acts perpetually out of 
us and within us. He surrounds us and contains us, at 
the same time that he is contained in us. The mystery 
which has merited for us grace, and without which we 
are as lost and in darkness, is the mystery of mysteries. 
All others are adorable, elevated, and sublime, but this 
is the culmination of all, the highest, the most ador- 
able, beyond which there can be no greater height nor 
elevation attained, nor anything above it worthy of 
adoration. 

On that day, forever mournful but joyful, when the 
Son of God made man was crucified, all things were 
restored to order, and in this divine order the cross 
was elevated above ail things created. Some things 
manifested the goodness of God, others his mercy, 
and others again his justice. The cross alone was 
the symbol of his love and the pledge of his grace. It 
is through the cross that confessors have suffered for 
the faith; through it that virgins have remained chaste; 
that the Fathers of the Desert have lived angelic lives; 
that the martyrs, those faithful witnesses, have courage- 
ously and cheerfully sacrificed their lives. From the 
sacrifice of the cross proceeded that wonderful energy 



312 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



by which the weak conquered the strong, by which dis- 
armed and proscribed men ascended to the capitol, and 
by which a few poor fishermen subdued the world. It 
is through the cross that all those who attain victory are 
victorious; that those who combat gain strength; that 
those who ask for mercy obtain pardon; that the needy 
are succored; that the sorrowing are comforted, and 
those who weep find consolation. Since the cross was 
raised on Calvary, there is no one who cannot through 
it live in heaven while yet on earth: for even if he still 
endure the trials of this world, yet he already dwells in 
heaven through hope. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Continuation of the same subject— Conclusion. 

The sacrifice of the cross is that only sacrifice of in- 
estimable value, to which all others that are noticed either 
in history or among the legends of nations refer. It 
is the sacrifice which both the Gentile and Jewish peo- 
ple sought to represent in their bloody sacrifices, and 
which Abel fully prefigured in an acceptable manner 
when he offered to God the first born and most perfect 
of his lambs. The true altar was to be a cross, the true 
victim a God, and the true priest this same God, both 
God and man — august pontiff, eternal priest, perpetual 
and holy victim, who came to accomplish in the fullness 
of time what he had promised to Adam in the terrestrial 
paradise ; and he executed his promise, and fulfilled his 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



313 



word in the most faithful manner, for God neither 
threatens nor promises in vain. He had threatened to 
disinherit man if he abused his liberty and committed 
sin, and man having sinned God disinherited him. When 
God disinherited man He promised him a Redeemer, and 
at the appointed time He came in person to effect man's 
redemption. 

The coming of the Saviour solves all mysteries, ex- 
plains all dogmas, and accomplishes all laws. In order 
to fulfill the law of solidarity he takes upon himself all 
human sorrows, and in order to fulfill that of reversi- 
bility, he gives to the world the abundance of divine 
graces which he acquired for it by his passion and 
death. In Him God becomes man in so perfect a man- 
ner that upon him rests the full weight of divine wrath, 
and in him man is so perfect and divine that all the 
heavenly mercies fall upon him in refreshing and con- 
soling showers. In order that pain might become holy, 
he sanctifies it by his sufferings, and in order that its 
acceptance might become meritorious he accepts it him- 
self. Who would have the strength to offer his own will 
to God as a holocaust, if the Man-God had not made an 
entire abnegation of his own will, in order to accomplish 
that of his most holy Father? Who could elevate him- 
self to the grandeur of humility, if the most humble 
and patient Lamb of God had not pointed out the way 
by which to attain a height so difficult to reach ? And 
who, rising still higher, could overcome, one after the 
other, the many painful obstacles which obstruct the 
progress to perfection, until the sublime heights of di- 
vine love are gained, if the Saviour had not trodden 
that dolorous path, and crimsoned with his most pure 
blood every step of that sorrowful way ? Who but Him 



314 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



could have taught men that beyond those rugged and 
gigantic mountains, whose foundations are planted in 
the abyss, and whose summits penetrate the heavens, 
there extended immense and smiling plains, where the 
air is mildly tempered, the sky pure, the waters limpid 
and refreshing, the breezes gentle, the fields verdant, 
the harmonies ineffable, and the freshness perpetual? 
There life is a true existence which never ends, pleasure 
a real and unceasing delight, and love a holy and inex- 
tinguishable affection. There is found unending repose 
without weariness, rest without fatigue; and there all 
the joys of possession are mingled in an unutterable 
manner with the allurements of hope. 

The Son of God made man, and crucified for man, is 
not only the realization of all perfect things as repre- 
sented in the symbols, and prefigured in the types, but 
he is also the emblem and universal symbol of all per- 
fections. The Son of God made man is both the ideal 
and the reality, as he is at the same time both God 
and man. Natural reason tells us, and the experience 
of each day teaches us, that in no art, whatever it may 
be, can man arrive at that relative perfection which 
he is permitted to attain, unless he have placed before 
him a finished model of a still higher perfection. The 
people of Athens could never have acquired that admira- 
ble instinct which enabled them to discern at a single 
glance, in the works of genius, whatever was beautiful 
in literature or perfect in art, and in human actions 
whatever was great and heroic, if they had not had 
their perceptions cultivated by the forms of beauty with 
which they were rendered familiar — such as the statues 
of their wonderful artists, the verses of their sublime 
poets, and the illustrious actions of their great captains. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



315 



The character of the Athenians, as presented to us by 
history, necessarily supposes their artists, poets and 
heroes, such as they were represented to be, and these, 
in their turn, would never have attained such excellence 
without the example of a still more transcendent great- 
ness. The great captains of Greece modeled their ac- 
tions upon the eminent qualities of Achilles, who was to 
them a type of true glory. Their illustrious artists and 
poets found their inspirations in the Iliad and Odyssey, 
those universal types of artistic and literary excellence. 
They both owe their existence to Homer, who was the 
magnificent personification of the arts, literature, and 
heroism of Greece. 

This law, in virtue of which all that exists in the 
multitude is found in a more perfect manner in an aris- 
tocracy, and in a supereminent degree in a person; this 
law is so universal that it may be reasonably regarded 
as a law of history, and it is, in its turn, subjected to 
certain conditions which, like the law itself, are immuta- 
ble and necessary. Thus, for example, it is an unalter- 
able necessity for all these heroic personifications, that 
thev should belong at the same time to the especial asso- 
ciation which they personify, and to another association 
of a higher and larger scope. Achilles, Alexander, Cesar, 
Napoleon, as well as Homer, Virgil, and Dante, are at 
the same time citizens of two different cities — the one 
local and the other general, the one inferior and the 
other superior. In the superior city they live con- 
founded in a sort of equality, while in the inferior city 
they each exercise an absolute sway ; in the superior 
city they are citizens, in the inferior city they are emper- 
ors. This superior city, in which they are all equal, is 



316 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



called humanity ; and the inferior city where they com- 
mand is here called Paris, and there Athens or Rome. 

Now, as these inferior civic bodies are condensed, 
so to speak, in one person in whom their perfections 
and virtues reside in a special manner, it was also 
fitting that this universal law of typical personifica- 
tion should be accomplished with regard to that supe- 
rior collective body whose name is humanity. The ex- 
cellencies of that city surpassing all others, demanded 
a superior personification to all other personifications, 
because it was the highest, most excellent and perfect 
of all. Nor was this alone sufficient ; it was requisite, 
for the entire accomplishment of the law, that the per- 
son in whom humanity was condensed should combine 
in the unity of his person two different natures : by 
the one he should be man, and by the other he should 
be God, for God alone is superior to man. Nor can it 
be said that the incarnation of an angel would have suf- 
ficed for the fulfillment of this law, because it must be 
considered that man being composed of a spiritual 
essence and a corporeal nature, participates of both the 
physical and angelic natures. Man represents the con- 
fluence of all created things. If we take this for 
granted, it is evident that the person who was thus to 
condense in himself human nature, must also condense 
in himself all creation ; from which it follows, that 
being through humanity all that is created, he must, in 
order to become at the same time something more, be 
also God. Finally, it was necessary for the full accom- 
plishment of the law that we have just explained, that 
the same person who exercised absolute command in 
the inferior city, should be as a citizen and nothing 
more in the more perfect city. This is why God made 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 317 

man is the only one who rules over all things created, 
while in the tabernacle inhabited by the divine essence 
he is the person of the Son, in all things equal to the 
person of the Father and to the person of the Holy 
Ghost. I am far from supposing that this argument is 
unanswerable, or that these analogies are perfect. For 
any one to imagine that man can fully sound the depths 
of these profound mysteries, would be a remarkable 
proof of ignorance, and the mere attempt to raise the 
divine veil that covers them, appears to me to be a stupid 
arrogance, extravagance, and folly. No ray of light 
has the power to illuminate what God has hidden in the 
impenetrable tabernacle which guards the divine counsels. 
I only propose to prove by a rigorous demonstration, 
that what God has ordered us to believe, far from being 
absurd, is not only credible but likewise reasonable. I 
think that the demonstration can be carried even to the 
limits of evidence when it simply undertakes to elucidate 
the truth, that everything which departs from faith 
terminates in the absurd, and that the obscurity in which 
divine truths are involved is less profound than human 
darkness. There is no Catholic dogma nor mystery 
which does not combine the two conditions essential to 
a reasonable belief, first, to furnish to those who accept 
it a satisfactory explication of the whole, and second, 
to be in itself, to a certain degree, capable of explana- 
tion and comprehension. There is no man possessed of 
a sound reason and good intention who will not testify 
of himself — on the one hand, that he is radically impo- 
tent to discover revealed truths unaided, and on the 
other, that he is endowed with a surprising aptitude for 
explaining all these truths in a manner relatively satis- 

28 



318 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



factory. This is a proof that reason has not been given 
to man to enable him to discover the truth, but only 
that he might comprehend it when it is explained, and 
perceive it when it is pointed out to him. The misery 
of man is so great, and his intellectual indigence so 
lamentable, that he could not understand the first thing: 
with certainty which he ought to comprehend, if the divine 
plan permitted that he should discover anything by him- 
self. I would ask, if there exist any man who can exactly 
define what reason is; or who can tell why he is endowed 
with it ; or in what way it is useful to him, and what are 
its limits. Nevertheless, this is but the letter A of this 
alphabet, and six thousand years have already elapsed 
since w T e have commenced to lisp it, and we cannot yet 
pronounce it. I think I am then right in affirming that 
this alphabet was not made for man's utterance, nor was 
man made to spell this alphabet. 

To return to our subject, it was very useful and desira- 
ble for humanity to have a universal standard of universal 
and infinite perfection, even as the diverse political asso- 
ciations have always had a model from which they have 
received, as from their source, those special qualities 
and virtues by which, during the glorious epochs of 
their history, they have elevated themselves above others. 
If other reasons were wanting, this of itself would suf- 
fice to justify the great mystery of which we treat, since 
God alone could serve as a perfect exemplar and finished 
model to every race and nation. His presence among 
men, his marvelous doctrine, his holy life, his innumer- 
able tribulations, his passion so full of humiliation and 
opprobrium, and his most cruel death, which was the 
crowning and final act of all, — these can alone explain 
the eminent height to which the standard of human vir- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



319 



tues has been raised. Those nations who do not confess 
the Saviour crucified have had their heroes, but the 
great Catholic society has its saints ; and with all due 
regard as to the proportional difference between them, 
and all exceptions granted as to the propriety of such 
a comparison, we consider that the heroes of paganism 
are to the saints of Catholicism, what the various per- 
sonifications of the people are to the absolute personifi- 
cation of humanity in the person of God made man for 
the love of men. Between these various personifications 
and this absolute personification there is an infinite 
distance, while between heroes and saints there is an 
incommensurable distance. It is natural that the 
first being infinite, the second should be incommen- 
surable. 

The heroes of paganism were men who, stimulated by 
a worldly passion carried to its utmost limit, performed 
extraordinary works. The saints of Catholicism are 
men wdio, having renounced all carnal passions, bear 
up with unshaken courage, without any mortal aid, 
against the impetuous torrent of human afflictions. 
The heroes, concentrating all their strength up to a 
feverish excitement, overcame all those who opposed 
them. The saints always commenced by an abnega- 
tion of their own strength, and thus unarmed and de- 
nuded they conquered themselves and all the powers of 
earth and hell. The heroes, desired to acquire glory 
and renown among men; the saints considered the vain 
applause of mankind as of no value, and, regardless of 
their name and glory, and despising the exercise of their 
own will, they forsook all things and placed themselves 
in the hands of God, convinced that the greatest honor to 
which man can aspire, is to be counted among the serv- 



320 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



ants of God. Such were the heroes of paganism, and 
such the saints of Catholicism. They both gained the 
contrary of what they sought. The heroes who sought to 
fill the entire earth with the glory of their renown, have 
been utterly forgotten by the multitude, while the saints 
whose aspirations were only directed toward heaven are 
here below honored, revered, and invoked by the people, 
and by kings, emperors, and pontiffs. How great is 
God in his works, and how marvelous are his designs ! 
Man imagines that it is he who acts, while it is God who 
conducts him. He fancies that he descends into a valley, 
and he finds himself, without knowing it, on a mountain. 
He thinks that he acquires glory, and even his name is 
obliterated; and when he seeks a refuge and rest in ob- 
livion, he suddenly finds himself as one deafened by 
the vociferous outcries of the multitude who proclaim 
his renown. Some sacrifice everything for the glory of 
their name, and none survive them to bear it, so that 
their name becomes extinct with them. The first thing 
that others immolate on the altar of their sacrifices is 
the name they bear, which they even efface from their 
own recollection, and this name, forgotten and despised 
by them, passes from father to son, and is transmitted 
from generation to generation as a most glorious title 
and rich inheritance. Every Catholic bears the name 
of a saint. Thus, that divine word is every day accom- 
plished which promises the abasement of the proud and 
the elevation of the humble. 

And as there is an infinite distance between God made 
man and the most gifted of the earth, and an incommen- 
surable distance between heroes and saints, so is there 
also an immense distinction between Catholic and infidel 
nations, and between the chiefs who govern them — for 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



321 



the copies must bear the same relation to each other as 
their models do. The presence of the Divinity produces 
sanctity, and the sanctity of the most eminent incites 
the less advanced to a virtuous life, and to others still 
lower in the scale, it is at least productive of good sense. 
Such is the cause that explains this phenomenon, proved 
by experience, that all truly Catholic nations possess 
what infidel nations have never had, good sense ; that is 
to say, that sound judgment which sees each thing at a 
single glance as it is in itself, and in the order which is 
suitable to it. This ought not to cause surprise if we 
consider that Catholicism is the order absolute, the in- 
finite truth and perfection. So in it and through it 
alone are things beheld in their inmost essences, in the 
rank which they occupy, and with the degree of import- 
ance which belongs to them in the wonderful order 
according to which they are disposed. 

Without Catholicism there can be neither good sense 
among the lower ranks, nor virtue among the middle 
classes, nor sanctity among the eminent; because the 
existence on earth of good sense, virtue, and sanctity, 
all suppose the existence of a God made man whose 
mission was to teach holiness to heroic souls, virtue to 
the courageous, and to rectify the judgment of the err- 
ing multitudes who wander in darkness and in the shadow 
of death. This divine master is the universal regulator, 
the center of all things; and this is why, wherever we 
look, or under whatever aspect we regard things, we 
always behold him as the center. Considered as both 
God and man, he is that central point in which are 
joined in one the creating essence and created substances. 
Considered simply as God, the Son of God, he is the 

28* 



322 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



second person, that is to say, the center of the three 
divine persons. Considered solely as man, he is the 
focus in which human nature is condensed by a myste- 
rious concentration. Considered as Redeemer, he is that 
central object upon whom all the graces of God and all 
the severity of his justice at the same time descend. 
The redemption is the great synthesis which reconciles 
and unites the divine justice and mercy. Considered 
as at the same time Lord of heaven and earth, and 
as born in a manger, leading a life of abnegation, and 
suffering death on the cross, he is that central point 
in which are united, in a superior synthesis, every the- 
sis and antithesis, with their perpetual contradictions 
and their infinite diversity. He is the most indigent 
and the most opulent, the servant and the king, the 
slave and the master; he is naked and he is adorned 
with splendid vestments; he is obedient unto men, and 
he commands the stars ; he has neither water to quench 
his thirst, nor bread to appease his hunger, and yet at 
his voice the waters gush forth from the rocks, and 
bread is multiplied in order to satisfy the wants of the 
people, and yields them an abundance. Men outrage 
him, and the seraphim adore him. He is at the same 
time most obedient and most powerful; he dies because 
he is condemned to die, but at his order the veil of the 
temple is rent, the graves open, the dead are resuscita- 
ted, the good thief is converted, the sun withdraws his 
rays, and all nature is in anguish. He appears in the 
midway of time, he walks in the midst of his disciples, 
he is born in the central point between two great seas 
and of three immense continents, he is a citizen of 
a nation which holds a middle rank between those na- 
tions which are entirely independent and those which 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



323 



are completely subjected. He calls himself the way, 
and every way is a center; he calls himself the truth, 
and the truth occupies the mean in all things; he is the 
life, and life, which is the present, is the middle term 
between the past and the future; he passes his life 
alternately applauded and abused, and dies placed be- 
tween two thieves. 

And on this account he was an object of scandal for 
the Jews, and of contempt for the Gentiles. They both 
had some idea of the divine thesis and the human an- 
tithesis, but they imagined, and humanly speaking they 
were not mistaken, that this thesis and this antithesis 
were irreconcilable and altogether contradictory; human 
intelligence cannot of itself comprehend the supreme 
synthesis which reconciles them. The world had always 
seen the rich and the poor, but it could not conceive 
the possibility of uniting in one person the extremes of 
poverty and wealth. But even this, which appears ab- 
surd to reason, satisfies it completely when the person 
in whom these contradictions are united is a divine per- 
son, who must either have appeared in this way in the 
world or not at all. His coming was the signal of the 
universal conciliation of all things, and of universal 
peace among men. The poor and the rich, the humble 
and the powerful, the happy and the unhappy, were all 
united in him, and in him alone, because he alone was 
at the same time very rich and very poor, very powerful 
and very humble, most happy and most afflicted. Here 
is that pacific fraternity which he taught to all those 
who received the divine w T ord. Here is that evangelical 
fraternity which all the Catholic doctors have taught 
in an uninterrupted succession, and without intermis- 
sion. The moment our Lord Jesus Christ is denied, 



324 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



that moment commence factions and parties, tumults 
and seditions, sinister outcries, insensate clamors, im- 
placable rancors, unceasing wars, and bloody battles. 
The poor rise against the rich, the unhappy against the 
happy, the aristocracy against their king, the people 
against the aristocracy, and the enraged and barbarous 
multitudes, transported with passion, struggle against 
each other in one surging mass, like immense and swol- 
len torrents, which meet and are precipitated into an 
abyss. 

True humanity is in no man — it is in the Son of 
God; and there is revealed to us the secret of its con- 
tradictory nature, because it is on the one hand most 
elevated and excellent, and on the other, the depth 
of degradation. It is so excellent, that God has as^ 
sumed it, and made it his own in uniting it with the 
Word ; and it is so elevated, that it was from the begin- 
ning and before his coming promised by God, adored in 
silence by the patriarchs, announced from age to age by 
the prophets, even revealed to the world by its false 
oracles, and prefigured in all the sacrifices and by all 
the types. An angel announced it to a virgin, and it 
was conceived by the Holy Ghost in her sacred and 
virginal womb, and God entered into this humanity, and 
united himself forever with it. And thus perpetually 
united to God, this sacred humanity was chanted by 
angels at its birth, proclaimed by the stars, visited by 
shepherds, and adored by kings. And when the Man- 
God wished to be baptized, the heavens opened, and 
the Holy Ghost descended, in the form of a dove, 
upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, 
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased/' 
Y\ T hen he commenced to preach, he performed such rcira- 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



325 



cles, curing the sick, consoling the afflicted, restoring 
the dead to life, authoritatively commanding the winds 
and waves, unveiling secret things, and predicting things 
to come, that the heavens and the earth, angels and 
men, were terrified and amazed. Nor was this the end 
of these miracles, for this humanity was seen by all, to- 
day dead, and after three clays resuscitated and glorified, 
victorious over time and death ; and they beheld him 
silently rising in the air and ascending to the highest 
heavens, like a divine aurora. 

And this same glorious humanity was at the same 
time an example of the deepest abjection, for it was 
predestined by God, on account of the substitution, to 
suffer, without being sinful, the penalty of sin. This is 
the reason why he whose divine countenance the angels 
love to gaze upon, endures such a weight of grief in this 
world. This is why he in whom the heavens rejoice, 
is so sorrowful and dejected; this is why he who in 
heaven is adorned with a star-gemmed vestment, is naked 
upon earth ; this is why he who is the holiest of the 
holy, walks among sinners here below, as if he, too, were 
a sinner — conversing with blasphemers, adulterers, and 
the avaricious. This is why he gives the kiss of peace 
to Judas, and offers the joys of paradise to the thief ; 
and why, when he converses with sinners, he does so 
with so much love that his eyes are filled with tears. 

This man must have deeply penetrated into the 
mysteries of suffering, when he thus condoles with the 
afflicted and compassionates their miseries. He must 
indeed comprehend sorrow, when he thus grieves with 
the sorrowing. Never was man so abandoned and con- 
demned to such entire dereliction. An entire people 
overwhelm him with their maledictions ; and among his 



326 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



disciples, one sells him, another denies him, and the rest 
forsake him. He can neither obtain water to moisten 
his lips, nor bread to satisfy his hunger, nor a stone 
whereon to rest his weary head. Never did anguish 
equal his in the garden, where in agony the blood issued 
at every pore. His face was disfigured with blows, his 
body derisively clothed in purple, and a crown of thorns 
was placed upon his brow. He carried his own cross, 
repeatedly falling beneath its weight, and ascended Cal- 
vary, followed by an infuriated multitude, who filled the 
air with their frightful vociferations. When he was raised 
on the infamous cross, his dereliction became so bitter 
that even his Father would not look upon him, and the 
angels who served him, overcome w r ith grief and terror, 
veiled their faces with their wings, in order not to see 
him.' In this extremity of suffering, his humanity seemed 
to be forsaken by the superior part of his soul, which 
remained unshaken and serene ; and the crowd taunt- 
ingly cried out to him, "If thou be the Son of God, 
come down from the cross." 

How can we, without the special grace of God, believe 
in the divinity of this object of scorn, of this man of sor- 
row? How can we believe his words to be aught but a 
scandal and foolishness? And, nevertheless, this man, 
who is thus utterly forsaken and who endures this mor- 
tal anguish, subjects the world to his law, taking it as 
by storm, by the efforts of some poor fishermen, who 
were, like himself, wanderers, miserable and destitute. 
For his sake these men changed their lives and left 
their homes, and through love of him accepted his cross, 
abandoned the cities, and inhabited the deserts. They 
rejected all pleasures, and, confessing the sanctifying 
efficacy of grief, they led pure and spiritual lives, and 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



327 



inflicted severe penances upon themselves, keeping their 
appetites always in subjection. And more than this, 
after his death they firmly believed the most stupendous 
and incredible things. They believed that he who had 
been crucified was the only Son of God, and was God ; 
that he had been conceived by the Holy Ghost in the 
womb of a virgin ; that he who had been born in a 
manger, and wrapped in humble swaddling clothes, was 
Lord of heaven and earth ; that after his death he 
descended into hell, from whence he released the pure 
and just souls of the ancient patriarchs ; that he after- 
ward resumed his own body, and glorified, rising with 
it from the grave, raised himself in the heavens, trans- 
figured and resplendent; that the woman who had borne 
him in her womb was at the same time a loving mother 
and an immaculate virgin ; that she was carried to heaven 
by the angels, where the angelical hosts proclaimed her 
to be, in virtue of a sovereign edict, Queen of Creation, 
the mother of the afflicted, the intercessor of the just, 
the advocate of sinners, mother of God, and spouse of 
the Holy Ghost. They believed that all things visible 
are of little value and only worthy of contempt, com- 
pared to those which are invisible ; that the true good is 
to accept afflictions and tribulations with joy, and to 
suffer unceasingly; and that the only real evil is pleas- 
ure and sin. They believed that the waters of baptism 
purify; that the confession of sin obtains its remission; 
that bread and wine are changed into the body and 
blood of Christ; that God is in us and everywhere sur- 
rounds us; that even the hairs of our head are num- 
bered, so that not one hair can fall without the knowl- 
edge and permission of God; that if man thinks, it is 
because God grants him the power of thought; that if 



328 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



his will is moved, it is God who gives the power to use 
his will; that when he makes an effort, it is because 
God strengthens him; so that without this continual 
sustaining aid man stumbles and falls ; that there is to 
be a resurrection of the dead, and then final judgment; 
that there is a heaven and a hell, eternal punishment 
and everlasting felicity. They proclaimed all these 
wonderful dogmas, and then announced that the whole 
world would receive them, in spite of the opposition of 
princes, kings, and emperors. They proclaimed that 
on account of these doctrines an innumerable host of 
illustrious confessors, of celebrated doctors, of chaste 
and delicate virgins, and glorious martyrs, would suffer 
torments and death. And finally, that the folly of the 
cross would be so contagious that it would spread among 
all nations, to the utmost confines of the earth. 

All these extraordinary things have been believed by 
men ever since the day when, amid the darkness which 
shrouded the trembling earth, the great tragedy, that 
lasted three hours, was enacted on Golgotha. There 
that declaration was accomplished, which God made 
through Osee, saying, In funiculis Adam traham eos, 
in vinculis charitatis;* and men have fallen into this 
snare of love, which was so tenderly spread for them by 
the Son of the living God. Man by nature revolts 
against omnipotence, rebels against justice, and resists 
mercy ; but he lovingly yields to the imploring and 
sorrowful accents of one who dies for him and who loves 
him even in death. Why persecutest thou me ? This 
is that voice, at once terrible and tender, which continu- 
ally reproaches sinners, and these endearing, sweet, and 



* Chapter xi. v, 4. 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



329 



gentle accents penetrate the soul, transform it, change 
it, entirely convert it to God, and compel it everywhere 
to seek the beloved object, in deserts or in populous 
cities, on rugged mountains or in fertile plains, in 
parched fields or in blooming gardens, no matter where. 
This is that voice which enkindles the chaste love of the 
spouse in the soul, and attracts and inebriates it with 
the delicious odor of intoxicating perfumes, even as the 
panting deer seeks the fountains of fresh water. God 
came to cast fire on the earth, and the earth is enkindled 
and has commenced to burn, and the divine flames will 
spread from day to day, until finally the entire world 
will be wrapped in one general conflagration. Love 
explains the inexplicable, and man through love believes 
what appears incredible, and performs what seems im- 
possible, because through love all things become possible 
and easy. 

Those of the apostles who saw the Saviour when, pre- 
vious to his passion, he was transfigured before them, 
when his face shone as the sun and his garments became 
whiter and more dazzling than the purest snow; those 
who saw this, exclaimed, in a transport of ecstasy, Let 
us remain here- But they had formed no true idea as 
yet of the divine love, nor of its ineffable delights. 
Afterward, the great Apostle, who was already master 
of the excellent science of divine love, says, I have only 
desired to know one thing, and that is J esus Christ and 
him crucified ; which was the same as to say, I desire 
to understand all things, and, in order to comprehend 
all, I only need to understand Jesus Christ, because in 
him alone are all sciences and all things united; and the 
Apostle adds, "and him crucified." He does not say 
Jesus Christ glorified and transfigured, because it avails 

29 



330 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



little to know him in his omnipotence, assisting in thought 
at the glorious work of the universal creation ; nor is 
it enough to behold him in his glory, when his counte- 
nance is resplendent with an uncreated light, and 
when the powers of heaven are prostrated in ecstasy 
before the divine majesty; nor does it suffice to hear 
him pronounce the unappealable decrees of his justice, 
surrounded by angels and saints. Nor is the soul fully 
satisfied with the contemplation of the ineffable splendors 
of his infinite mercy. The Apostle, devoured by an un- 
quenchable thirst, an unappeasable hunger, and an inex- 
tinguishable desire, wishes more, asks more, and carries 
still higher his audacious thought, for he can only be 
content when he has found Jesus Christ crucified, that 
is to say, he wishes to know him, as Jesus Christ most 
wishes to be known, in the highest and most excellent 
manner which reason can conceive of, the imagination 
imagine, or desire long for in its most ardent aspira- 
tions ; for this is to know him in the act of his incom- 
prehensible and infinite love. This is what the Apostle 
means when he says, I only wish to know one thing, 
and that is Jesus Christ and him crucified. 

It is Jesus Christ crucified, and he alone, whom 
those happy few wish to know, who, taking up their 
cross, lovingly follow the bleeding and glorious footsteps 
of his passion. It is he alone whom those fathers of 
the desert wished to know, whose virtue converted the 
most frightful deserts into gardens of paradise. It is 
to him alone that those chaste virgins, whose miraculous 
strength triumphed over all concupiscence, consecrated 
their pure and virginal thoughts, and whom they ac- 
cepted as their spouse. It is he alone whom ail those 
desired to know, whose generous hearts have received 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



331 



tribulations with joy, and have courageously toiled 
onward in the thorny paths of penance. 

Among all the wonders of creation the most admira- 
ble is the soul that lives in charity, not only because its 
condition is the most sublime and the most excellent 
that we can here below conceive, but likewise because 
it affords so striking a proof of the divine love. This 
love was not only of sufficient efficacy to blot out our 
sins, and with it disorder and the cause of all disorder, 
but it also has the power to cause us freely to desire 
that same deification which we before rejected, and to 
enable us to attain the object of our desire, by accept- 
ing the assistance of the grace which we merited in our 
Lord and through our Lord when he shed his blood for 
us on Calvary. All these things are declared to us in 
those memorable words, which Jesus Christ pronounced 
in expiring, when he said, It is consummated, that is 
to say, I accomplish by my love what I could not gain 
by my justice, nor by my mercy, nor my wisdom, nor 
my omnipotence, because I efface sin, which obscures 
the divine majesty and dishonors the beauty of human- 
ity, and I retrieve humanity from its shameful captivity, 
and give to man the power, which he had lost through 
sin, of saving himself. Now my soul can stoop to fortify 
man, to embellish him, to deify him, because I have 
drawn him unto me, and I have united him to me by 
the all-powerful and endearing bond of love. 

When this memorable word was pronounced by the 
Son of God expiring on the cross, all things became 
marvelously and perfectly established. 

Each one of the dogmas explained in this and the 
preceding book is a law of the moral world, and each 
one of these laws is in itself unchangeable and per- 



332 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



petual. All united form the code of laws constitutive 
of moral order in humanity and the universe ; and these, 
joined to the physical laws to which matter is subject, 
form the supreme law of order, which regulates and 
governs creation. 

It is so essential that all things should be in a perfect 
order that, although man has put all things in disorder, 
yet he cannot conceive of disorder. This is why all 
revolutions, in subverting ancient institutions, accuse 
them of exercising an absurd and disturbing influence; 
and, in order to replace them by those of individual 
invention, they affirm that these changes will produce a 
more excellent order. This is the meaning of that con- 
secrated phrase among revolutionists of all ages, when 
they attempt to sanctify disorder, calling it a neiv 
order of things. Even Mr. Proudhon, the most auda- 
cious of all, only defends his anarchy, because he assumes 
that it is the rational expression of a perfect, that is to 
say of an absolute, order. 

From the perpetual necessity of order results the 
perpetual necessity of the existence of the physical and 
moral laws which constitute it; and for this reason they 
have all been created and solemnly proclaimed by God 
from the beginning of time. When God formed the 
world out of nothing, when he made man of the dust of 
the earth, and when he took from the side of man a rib, 
out of which he made woman, when he constituted the 
first family, God then declared, once for all, the phys- 
ical and moral laws which establish order in humanity 
and in the universe, and he removed them from out the 
jurisdiction of man, and placed them beyond the reach 
of his vain speculations and foolish fancies. Even the 
dogmas of the incarnation of the Son of God and the 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 



333 



redemption of mankind, which were only to be accom- 
plished in the plenitude of time, were revealed by God 
in the terrestrial paradise, when he made that merciful 
promise to our first parents, with which he tempered the 
rigor of his justice. 

The world has in vain rejected these laws. In seek- 
ing by their negation to throw off this yoke, they have 
only succeeded in making its weight more heavy, because 
a departure from these law r s always produces catas- 
trophes, which are more or less terrible in proportion 
to the extent of these negations ; this law of proportion 
between error and the calamities caused by it being one 
of the constitutive laws of order. 

God has permitted to human opinion a free and wide 
range ; he has placed a vast empire under the control 
and unrestricted will of man, to whom he has given 
dominion over the sea and land, and the power to rebel 
against his Creator; to revolt against heaven; to form 
treaties and covenants with infernal spirits; to deafen 
-the world with the din of battle; to excite discord and 
contention in societies, and terrify them by the fearful 
shock of revolutions ; to close the understanding to the 
light of truth, and to accept error and delight in its ob- 
scurity; to establish empires and overthrow them; to 
erect and destroy republics; to grow alike weary of re- 
publics, empires, and monarchies; to abandon what was 
eagerly sought for, and return again to what has been 
forsaken; to affirm everything, even to the absurd; to 
deny everything, even to absolute proof; to say there 
is no God, and, I am Gcod; to declare an independence 
of all authority, and to adore the star that shines upon 
us, the tyrant who oppresses us, the reptile that crawls 
along the ground, the tempest that fills the air with its 



334 



ESSAY ON CATHOLICISM, 



wild uproar, the thunderbolt that falls, and the fleeting 
clouds. 

All this and much more was given to man; yet, not- 
withstanding all this power was granted to him, the stars 
pursue their appointed courses and forever continue in 
harmonious progression; and the seasons succeed each 
other in their prescribed order, and the earth has never 
ceased to yield her harvests and to be clothed with verd- 
ure since the first day on which she received from God 
the command to fructify ; and all physical things fulfill 
to-day, even as they fulfilled yesterday and the day be- 
fore, the divine commands: ever moving in perpetual 
peace and concord, without the slightest transgression 
of the laws of the all-powerful Creator, whose sovereign 
hand assigned to them their limits, restrained their 
impetuosity, and regulated all their movements. 

All this and much more was given to man ; yet, not- 
withstanding all these things were given to him, he could 
not set aside the punishment which follows sin, nor pre- 
vent the penalty of his crime, nor avoid death as a con- 
sequence of his first transgression, nor avoid condemna- 
tion for his impenitence, nor the decisions of justice 
according to his use of liberty, nor prevent the mercy 
which was granted to the penitent, nor shun the repara- 
tion due to scandals, nor the catastrophes incurred by 
disobedience. 

Man has been allowed to crush society, agitated by 
the discord which he has fomented ; to destroy the 
strongest means of defense ; to plunder the most opu- 
lent cities; to overthrow the n^ost extensive and popu- 
lous empires; to bring utter ruin upon the highest forms 
of civilization, obscuring their splendors in the dense 
clouds of barbarism : but it has not been permitted him 



LIBERALISM, AND SOCIALISM. 335 

to suspend for one single day, hour, or minute, the infal- 
lible accomplishment of the fundamental laws which 
regulate the moral and physical world, the constitutive 
laws of order, in humanity and in the universe. The 
world has never seen, and will never see, the man who 
has departed through sin from the laws of order, and 
who has been able to escape a conformity with those 
laws, by means of punishment, that messenger of God, 
which all men must receive. 



FINIS. 



!b 3J> 

if \g 



